Editing Hillfort (section)

=== Great Britain ===
{{Main article|Hillforts in Britain}}
[[File:British camp central mound 2005.jpg|thumb|The ramparts of the multivallate [[British Camp]] in Herefordshire]]

The reason for the emergence of hillforts in Britain, and their purpose, has been a subject of debate. It has been argued that they could have been military sites constructed in response to invasion from continental Europe, sites built by invaders, or a military reaction to social tensions caused by an increasing population and consequent pressure on agriculture. The dominant view, since the 1960s, has been that the increasing use of iron led to social changes in Britain. Deposits of iron ore were located in different places to the tin and copper ore necessary to make bronze and, as a result, trading patterns shifted and the old elites lost their economic and social status. Power passed into the hands of a new group of people.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharples|1991|pp=71–72}}</ref> Archaeologist [[Barry Cunliffe]] believes that population increase still played a role and has stated "[the forts] provided defensive possibilities for the community at those times when the stress [of an increasing population] burst out into open warfare. But I wouldn't see them as having been built because there was a state of war. They would be functional as defensive strongholds when there were tensions and undoubtedly some of them were attacked and destroyed, but this was not the only, or even the most significant, factor in their construction".<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/T/timeteam/2008/swords/swords-found.html |title=Time Team: Swords, skulls and strongholds |publisher=[[Channel 4]] |date=2008-05-19 |access-date=16 September 2009}}</ref>

Hillforts in Britain are known from the [[Bronze Age]], but the great period of hillfort construction was during the Celtic Iron Age, between 700 BC and the [[Roman conquest of Britain]] in 43 AD. The Romans occupied some forts, such as the military garrison at [[Hod Hill]], and the temple at [[Brean Down]], but others were destroyed and abandoned. Partially articulated remains of between 28 and 40 men, women and children at [[Cadbury Castle, Somerset|Cadbury Castle]] were thought by the excavator<ref name="WTC">{{harvnb|Alcock|1972|pp=161–163}}</ref> to implicate the Cadbury population in a revolt in the 70's AD (roughly contemporary with that of Boudicca in the East of England), although this has been questioned by subsequent researchers.<ref>{{harvnb|Barrett|2000}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Tabor|2008|pp=156–164}}</ref> However, the presence of barracks on the hilltop in the decades following the conquest suggest an ongoing struggle to suppress local dissent.

[[Maiden Castle, Dorset|Maiden Castle]] in Dorset is the largest hillfort in England. Where Roman influence was less strong, such as uninvaded Ireland and unsubdued northern Scotland, hillforts were still built and used for several more centuries.

There are over 2,000 Iron Age hillforts known in Britain of which nearly 600 are in Wales.<ref>[http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/hist_periods/iron_age.htm The Iron Age] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207021902/http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/hist_periods/iron_age.htm |date=7 February 2009 }}, smr.herefordshire.gov.uk</ref> [[Danebury]] in [[Hampshire]], is the most thoroughly investigated Iron Age hillfort in Britain, as well as the most extensively published.<ref>{{harvnb|Cunliffe|2000}}</ref>

[[Cadbury Castle, Somerset]] is the largest amongst forts reoccupied following the end of [[Roman Britain|Roman rule]], to defend against [[pirate]] raids, and the [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] invasions. The cemetery outside [[Poundbury Hill]] contains east-facing Christian burials of the 4th century CE. In Wales, the hillfort at [[Dinas Powys hillfort|Dinas Powys]] was a late [[Iron Age]] hillfort reoccupied from the 5th-6th centuries CE;<ref>{{Citation|last=Alcock |first=Leslie |date=1963 |title=Dinas Powys: An Iron Age, Dark Age and Early Medieval Settlement in Glamorgan |publisher=University of Wales Press }}</ref> similarly at [[Castell Dinas Brân]] a hillfort of {{Circa|600 BCE}} was reused in the Middle Ages, with a stone castle built there in the 13th century CE.<ref>{{citation |last=King |first=D. J. Cathcart  |title=Two Castles in Northern Powys: Dinas Bran and Caergwrle |journal=Archaeologia Cambrensis |volume=CXXIII |year=1974 |pages=113–139}}</ref>

Some Iron Age hillforts were also incorporated into medieval frontier earthworks. For example [[Offa's Dyke]], a [[linear earthwork]] generally dated to the 9th century CE, makes use of the west and south-west ramparts of [[Llanymynech]] hillfort.<ref>{{Coflein|num=92487 |desc= Llanymynech Hillfort |access-date=1 October 2021}}</ref> Similarly the hillfort at [[Old Oswestry]] was incorporated into the early medieval [[Wat's Dyke]].<ref>{{Citation |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/old-oswestry-hillfort/history/ |title=English Heritage page 'History of Old Oswestry Hillfort' }}</ref> The [[Wansdyke (earthwork)|Wansdyke]] was a new [[linear earthwork]] connected to the existing hillfort at [[Maes Knoll]], which defined the Celtic-Saxon border in south-west England during the period 577–652 CE.

Some hillforts were re-occupied by the [[Anglo-Saxons]] during the period of [[Viking]] raids. [[King Alfred]] established a network of coastal hillforts and lookout posts in [[Wessex]], linked by a ''[[Herepath]]'', or military road, which enabled his armies to cover Viking movements at sea. For example, see [[Daw's Castle]] and [[Battle of Cynwit]].

It has been suggested on reasonable evidence that many so-called hillforts were just used to pen in cattle, horses, or other domesticated animals. The large sprawling examples at [[Bindon Hill]] and [[Bathampton Down]] are more than {{convert|50|acre|ha|lk=out}}. Even those that were defensive settlements in the Iron Age were sometimes used for corralling animals in later periods. For example, see [[Coney's Castle]], [[Dolebury Warren]] and [[Pilsdon Pen]]. However, it is difficult to prove that people definitely did not dwell there, as lack of evidence is not proof of absence.