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Ivinghoe Beacon in LiDAR

Ivinghoe Beacon is a Bronze Age and Iron Age hillfort in Buckinghamshire. Here it is in the Environment Agency's 1 m LiDAR, shaded so the shape of the ground stands out. Look for a triangular hilltop enclosure of about 2.2ha edged by a low scarp, with a round flat-topped mound in its north-west quarter.

What you can see

• The hillfort fills the summit as a roughly triangular enclosure of about 2.2 hectares. (Historic England)
• Its defences roughly follow the 200m contour: a scarp about 2m high with a ditch or berm about 6m wide. (Historic England)
• A flat-topped bowl barrow 23m across and 1.6m high stands in the north-west quarter of the fort. (Historic England)
• The original entrance was probably at the eastern point, where the scarp dips and turns inward. (Historic England)

Visiting

The National Trust invites visitors to walk from Pitstone to Ivinghoe Beacon and says you may be able to make out the outline of the hillfort on top. (National Trust)

Official record: Historic England list entry 1009544: A slight univallate hillfort and bowl barrow on Ivinghoe Beacon Hill.

Look, don't detect or dig

Ivinghoe Beacon 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

Wandlebury Ring · Uffington Castle and White Horse · Wayland's Smithy · Barbury Castle · all sites