page_title: Maiden Castle, Cheshire
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Maiden Castle, Cheshire / History
caption_attribution_description: English: View towards the hill fort of Maiden Castle on the southern high point of the southern Bickerton Hill (SJ 497 526)
context_page_description: Maiden Castle is an Iron Age hill fort, one of many fortified hill-top settlements constructed across Britain during the Iron Age, but one of only seven in the county of Cheshire in northern England. The hill fort was probably occupied from its construction in 600 BC until the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century AD. At this time the Cornovii tribe are recorded to have occupied parts of the surrounding area but, because they left no distinctive pottery or metalworking, their occupation has not been verified. Since then it has been quarried and used for military exercises. It is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and is owned by the National Trust. The hill fort is open to visitors, but unrestricted access to the site has resulted in it being classified as "at high risk" from erosion.
context_section_description: Radiocarbon dating indicates that the ramparts defending Maiden Castle were built in around 600 BC. Built from earth and timber, the inner rampart was originally 20 ft (6.1 m) wide, with a revetment of dry stone walling behind the bank, and at least 10 ft (3.0 m) high. The outer bank was originally 25 ft (7.6 m) wide and about 10 ft (3.0 m) high. It was built from sand and had a dry stone facing at the front and no revetment behind. The outer bank was later enlarged: the outer face was extended 8 to 10 ft (2.4 to 3.0 m) away from the fort and the revetment moved. Its height was probably increased to 12 ft (3.7 m). The defences cover about 1.66 acres (6,700 m²) out of the entire 3 acres (12,000 m²) of the Maiden Castle site. According to archaeologist James Forde-Johnston, who conducted a study of the hill forts of Lancashire and Cheshire in 1962, this was an unusually strong defence for such a small site. Few artefacts have been recovered from the site; they include a piece of Iron Age pottery. Maiden Castle was probably occupied until the Roman conquest of Britain in 1st century AD, and the outer bank may have been reconstructed around this time.
  The name Maiden Castle is not unique to the site and occurs in several other places in Britain, such as Maiden Castle in Dorset, and probably means a "fortification that looks impregnable" or one that has never been taken in battle. Despite quarrying in the 17th century and 20th-century military exercises on the site, Maiden Castle survives well. Maiden Castle was excavated between 1932 and 1935 by W. J. Varley, who also undertook excavations at Eddisbury hill fort, as part of his investigation into the origin of Cheshire's hill forts. Further excavations were undertaken in 1980–1981. The structure was made a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1995, giving Maiden Castle protection against unauthorised change. The environment of the hill fort is a mixture of heathland, heather, and bracken. The site is owned by the National Trust and is open to the public. Unrestricted access has led to problems such as erosion. Maiden Castle has been damaged by animal burrows and is designated as "at high risk" due to erosion caused by visitors and the spread of bracken. Five of Cheshire's seven hill forts have been assessed as being "at high risk" compared to 15% of North West England's Scheduled Monuments.
caption: Promontory crowned with earthworks, viewed from the south
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2010:04:24 16:27:59", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9716", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6698", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/100", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:04:24 16:27:59", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:04:24 16:27:59", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "108853/16384", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Partial", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "31", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3456", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "9230", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1728000/437", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "384000/97", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}