Two excellent recreations of the E gate of Old Sarum hillfort for

1) c 100 BC (severed heads optional)

2) AD 552 Cynric fighting the Britons (at *Searobyrig*)

Both © Peter Dunn / Historic England for the guide

https://t.co/QrLK8SYgz3

13 77

The fivefold ramparts of Old Oswestry hillfort survive today in places up to 6m high

Cross section through the earthworks at the W entrance © Liam Wales 2006 / Historic England for the signboards and guide

https://t.co/MLCE61lJmT

8 50

The defended enclosure / promontory fort / hillfort of Barsalloch in its Iron Age glory days

A fantastic recreation © for the signboard 🤩

For more of their stunning work see https://t.co/jQuwArTEGG

10 73

For a gorgeous recreation of Iron Age buildings in the SW corner of Maiden Castle © Paul Birkbeck / English Heritage 🤩

This hillfort is only a few km from the dig site (where we're still hoping to find a roundhouse!) 🤞

56 288


Moel Fenlli lies just south of Moel Famau, highest point of the Clwydian Range, above Bwlch Pen Barras on a prominent hill.

It is a multivallate hillfort with extensive ramparts on the north and east but with slight defences to the south.

10 47

There’s evidence of activity at Moel y Gaer Rhosesmor, one of the great Clwydian hillforts, since the Neolithic (4000-2400 BC), but excavations in the 1970s revealed a large number of roundhouses, which have been reimagined here (artist unknown).

12 50


Inspired by the statues of Gallaecian warriors and objects found in Galician and Portuguese artist Miguel Torre has recreated the appearance of a "corono" (chieftain) from Southern during the Iron Age.

37 165

 Defence: the everyday weapon - the slingshot - was deadly in the right hands... 'Ostorius [Scapula] led his enthusiastic soldiers forward.. and reached the rampart. But then, in an exchange of missiles, they came off worse in wounds and casualties' (Tacitus)

20 96

A brilliant series of images originally used on the website for Maiden Castle to illustrate the possible Roman attack in AD 44 (with and without palisade) © Paul Birkbeck / English Heritage

https://t.co/1DZFi2f9Lo

4 50

The Anglo Saxon Chronicle notes in AD 552 *Cynric fought against the Britons at Searobyrig [Old Sarum] and put the Britons to flight*

As Cynric is a British name this may be a hazy remembrance of post Roman civil conflict

Pic © Peter Dunn / Historic England

4 41

For check out my latest article on 305 new suspected and detected from in Published on as part of my at (my clumsy hands deleted the original post ...)
https://t.co/ozM1rFG3wr

8 37

The East gate to Old Sarum hillfort imaginatively recreated by Peter Dunn for

Before you ask, archaeological evidence for severed heads and totem poles is *limited* but adds an atmosphere

The Iron Age welcome appears less friendly than today 😱

7 79

“Avenue traversant Plateau de A4

I stopped in my tracks and gazed at this tree-lined avenue. Since my earliest childhood I can recall many moments spent playing on ancient settlements and hillforts.

1 4

Oh, it's !
Look at that beauty close to the Neusiedlersee, Austria. 1st Phase probably Urnfield period. Look at the Hallstatt Burial Mounds within the later (medieval?) ramparts.

5 36

There’s a great ‘Head for the Hillforts’ walk leaflet that links it with the nearby Little Doward Hillfort. Link - https://t.co/7m4P6Yhddj

3 12

The Wrekin in Shropshire boasts two Iron Age hillforts at its summit. Unusually, one is enclosed by the other. The outer hillfort is multivallate, the inner univallate. The NE entrances are known as Hell Gate and Heaven Gate respectively.


42 270

Iron Age activity at the centre of Danebury hillfort is a little more difficult to reconstruct

Here in an image from the 1986 guide © David Salariya memorably depicts a pony being taken to *meet its maker* at the central shrines 😱

2 28

These evocative recreations © David Salariya for the 1986 guide to Danebury hillfort convey a sense of everyday Iron Age life 🤩 (although I confess the cutaway effect of the storage pit in the last image hurts my head a tad)

3 39

The east gate of Danebury hillfort around 100 BC, at the moment of speculative attack, is depicted in this reconstruction painting by Karen Guffogg for the excellent 1993 book on Danebury by Barry Cunliffe

4 59

An aerial view of the East gate of Danebury hillfort by the talented David Salariya for the 1986 guide and on-site signage to illustrate how the multiple ramparts, palisade structure and gates may have worked should they have come under attack

4 44