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Maiden Castle in LiDAR

Maiden Castle is an Iron Age hillfort in Dorset. Here it is in the Environment Agency's 1 m LiDAR, shaded so the shape of the ground stands out. Look for the stacked banks and ditches wrapping the hilltop, the complex entrance earthworks, and the long, low line of the Neolithic bank barrow across the interior.

What you can see

• After several remodellings, the ramparts ended up as three banks and two ditches around the hilltop, with an extra bank and ditch on the gentler southern slope. (Historic England)
• In the second half of the 3rd century BC the ramparts were extended right round the hilltop to enclose about 20 hectares. (Historic England)
• Older than the hillfort, a Neolithic bank barrow lies near the centre of the hilltop: a low mound 546 metres long and 17.5 metres wide, built around 3500 BC. (Historic England)
• The hillfort is noted for the scale of its outer ramparts and its well-developed entrance earthworks. (Historic England)

Visiting

Free entry, open any reasonable time during daylight hours; there is a small car park at the fort. (English Heritage)

Official record: Historic England list entry 1015775: Maiden Castle.

Look, don't detect or dig

Maiden 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

Eggardon Hill · Hod Hill · Hambledon Hill · Badbury Rings · all sites