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Barbury Castle in LiDAR

Barbury Castle is an Iron Age hillfort in Wiltshire. Here it is in the Environment Agency's 1 m LiDAR, shaded so the shape of the ground stands out. Look for a double ring of banks and ditches around an oval of about 4.5ha, with gaps on the east and west sides and a small round mound just outside to the north-west.

What you can see

• Two rings of banks and ditches enclose an oval area of about 4.5ha. (Historic England)
• The inner ditch is up to 24m wide and up to 10m below the top of the ramparts. (Historic England)
• Two original entrances, east and west, are each about 10m wide; the eastern one is guarded by a right-angled outwork ditch. (Historic England)
• A flat-topped bowl barrow 13m across and about 2m high sits just north-west of the hillfort. (Historic England)

Visiting

Swindon Borough Council lists Barbury Castle among its parks and open spaces; the car park opens at 7.30am and the gates are locked at 9pm. (Swindon Borough Council)

Official record: Historic England list entry 1014557: Barbury Castle: a hillfort and bowl barrow.

Look, don't detect or dig

Barbury Castle is a Scheduled Monument, protected by law because it's of national importance. In England it's a criminal offence to use a metal detector on a Scheduled Monument without Historic England's written consent, and to remove any object of archaeological or historical interest found with one. Damaging a scheduled monument is an offence too, and works on one, including digging, need Scheduled Monument Consent first. More on Scheduled Monuments and the rules.

Keep to paths and open access land, and follow the Countryside Code.

More sites in LiDAR

Fyfield Down · Avebury · West Kennet Long Barrow · Wayland's Smithy · all sites