page_title: Caesar's Camp, Bracknell Forest
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Caesar's Camp, Bracknell Forest / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Pine trees, Caesar&#39;s Camp, near to Easthampstead, Bracknell Forest, Great Britain. Trees on the edge of the hill fort.
context_page_description: Caesar's Camp is an Iron Age hill fort around 2400 years old. It is located just in Crowthorne civil parish to the south of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire. It falls within the Windsor Forest and is well wooded, although parts of the fort have now been cleared of some trees. The area is managed by the Forestry Commission but owned by Crown Estate, and is open and accessible to the public. The hill fort covers an area of about 17.2 acres and is surrounded by a mile-long ditch, making it one of the largest in southern England.
context_section_description: The layout consists of a number of steep banks and ditches in the shape of an oak leaf, enclosing a large flat area of a settlement. The main entrance is at its northern end (at the tip of the leaf) and is very well defended with multiple banks and a sinuous entrance road. The banks to the side of the entrance are very steep, guiding any entrants along the way. It is north of the Roman road known as the Devil's Highway
  which connected Londinium to Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester). It is within the Crowthorne Woods part of Swinley Forest crown plantation and is located off Nine Mile Ride approximately 0.75 miles (1.2 km) from the Look Out visitor centre. Much of the fort is covered by mature broadleaf and coniferous trees, although some of the spruce  plantation on the southern part of the fort has been cleared, and the ground reverted to heathland and scrub. On clear days, central Bracknell and Crowthorne, including Broadmoor hospital, are visible from its highest points. The camp falls within the Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths Site of Special Scientific Interest, and forms part of the northern edge of the SSI. The zone protects numerous rare birds such as the woodlark and nightjar, as well as its diverse insect life and fauna.
  It is an entirely hand-built complex. The camp has suffered significant erosion, both natural and man-made. Efforts have been made by Bracknell Forest Council to restore some of the natural parts.  A geophysical survey (examining the sub-structures) of 2 ha in the southern part of the fort was undertaken in 1995 before the restoration work. It found some evidence for sustained occupation and structures; the survey did find a ditch type anomaly within the western ramparts and a scatter of pit type anomalies.
caption: Scots pines on bank at Caesar's Camp
exif: {}