Oldbury hillfort - Your Art History Reference Guide!

ArtHistoryClub Information Site on Oldbury hillfort Art History Art History Search        Art History Browse             News        Gallery        Forums        Articles        Weblinks        welcome to our free resource site for all art history lovers!

Oldbury hillfort

Oldbury Hillfort is a large Iron Age hill fort near the village of Ightham, Kent, England.

It covers the top of a hill that would have provided commanding views over one of the main routes in and out of the Weald and covers an area of 50 ha. A natural spring within the fort would have provided water to the occupants making it a very attractive spot. The eastern side of the hill is very steep and so earthwork defences were constructed only on the other sides.

Excavations in 1938 and 19834 concluded that there was little evidence of permanent occupation and that the hill fort had been built hurriedly and abandoned by 50 BC. Piles of slingstones and evidence of burning were taken to indicate that the fort may have been violently conquered, perhaps by Julius Caesar during his Roman invasion of Britain.

The site is owned by the National Trust and open to the public. The Middle Palaeolithic Oldbury rock shelters are located on the eastern slopes of the hill.

External link

Last updated: 01-04-2007 01:18:57
The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the
GNU Free Documentation License. See original document.
Art History Search | Art History Browse | Contact | Legal info