Maiden Castle, Dorset

Maiden Castle is a huge hill-fort two miles southwest of Dorchester, the county town of the English county of Dorset. It was the capital of the Durotriges tribe that gave its name to Dorset and was routed by the Romans in 43 AD. However, there had been activity at the site long before then.

There was a camp at the eastern end on the hill long before 2000 BC, the proof of this being a chalk image of a mother-goddess that has been discovered there.

The first Celtic inhabitants arrived at about 300 BC, digging a single rampart, fortified with timber, that enclosed about 16 acres. They lived in timber huts and stored their supplies in large circular pits. The enclosure was enlarged to the present size of 47 acres after 250 BC.

The invention of the slingshot, which could kill at a range of 100 yards, inspired the digging of fresh fortifications that formed a series of ditches and ramparts all round the site. Even today it is possible to walk round a rampart and look down into a 50-foot deep ditch. Attackers would be forced to drop down into the ditches and thus be vulnerable to arrow fire from above.

However, these defences were no good against the sophisticated ballistae of the Roman invaders, led by the future Emperor Vespasian, when he swept westwards. One grim discovery made at the site was a spinal vertebra of a defending Celt transfixed by a ballista bolt.

By 70 AD the site was deserted, with the survivors forming part of the new Roman town of Durnovaria, now known as Dorchester.

However, there was another period of occupation at Maiden Castle in around 380 AD when a Romano-British temple was built. Another grim discovery dates from around 635 AD, this being the remains of a sacrificial victim with a hole cut in his skull.

Today’s visitors can marvel at the intricate defences built by the Durotriges, especially around what would have been the gated entrances, and enjoy the superb views to be had from the summit of the hill and the surrounding ramparts.

© John Welford