Ebook: Maiden Castle, Dorset

The excavation of Maiden Castle, Dorset, was initiated in 1934 for three main reasons. First, although not the largest in area of British earthworks, the huge and involved defences of the site have long been recognized as the most imposing of their class; and it was felt that the time had come when this prestige should rest upon a wider range of values than those inherent in complexity and magnitude alone. Secondly, Maiden Castle stands in the midst of a region more prolific in major hill-forts than any other in the British Isles. South of the Thames and between the Hampshire Avon and the Exe - an area about 90 miles by 40 miles - the Ordnance map shows over seventy of these sites still visible on the surface, and others are known to have been destroyed. Of these sites, a number, notably in Wiltshire, had been 'sampled' to a greater or less extent, and substantive work had been carried out in the east at Hengistbury Head and in the west at Bembury Fort; but in the great central area, where Maiden Castle is· the outstanding monument, no methodical work on any considerable scale had yet been attempted. A large and important cultural province thus remained unsystematized, and much miscellaneous material found here and there within its borders was devoid of scientific context. The problem was one which found a natural focus in the great Dorset earthwork.