It’s #HillfortsWednesday and we’re thinking about wonderful Old Winchester Hill #Hampshire a hillfort in a @NaturalEngland reserve alongside Neolithic and Bronze barrows and later field systems @sdnpa

A haven of prehistoric tranquillity

© @HistoricEngland NMR 15393/26

The E-W aligned 4ha univallate Iron Age hillfort of Old Winchester Hill sits atop a steep sided spur of the #Hampshire Downs in the @sdnpa @NaturalEngland enclosing Bronze Age barrows and later field systems. It's quite simply gorgeous #HillfortsWednesday

Hunanuk CC BY-SA 4.0

The univallate hillfort enclosing the upper slopes of Old Winchester Hill #Hampshire is of relatively simple design but remains imposing and substantial, even after 2,000 years. As yet unexcavated, it's presumed to be Early Iron Age in date

#HillfortsWednesday

The Iron Age ramparts of Old Winchester Hill #Hampshire are at their most imposing by the SE and NW inturned entrances. The SE entrance, where approach was easiest, was originally strengthened by an external hornwork

#HillfortsWednesday

Hunanuk CC BY-SA 4.0

The ramparts of Old Winchester Hill #Hampshire survive to a height of between 5 to 6m above the partially backfilled ditch. The whole circuit is preserved and it remains a formidable obstacle, despite the passing of time

#HillfortsWednesday @sdnpa @NaturalEngland

Three substantial Bronze Age barrow mounds and a possible pond barrow survive within the circuit of Old Winchester Hill Iron Age hillfort #Hampshire @sdnpa @NaturalEngland

They were almost as old to the hillfort builders as the hillfort is to us

#HillfortsWednesday

The Bronze Age barrows atop Old Winchester Hill have been dug into by antiquarians, but we have no idea what they found

During the Iron Age, the mounds were evidently respected and revered, the hillfort builders resisting the urge to level them

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3 dramatic reconstructions of Old Winchester Hill in prehistory from the onsite @NaturalEngland signage showing the Bronze Age barrows and later hillfort

The artist sadly isn’t credited - but we think it may be the great Mike Codd ?

#HillfortsWednesday

The interior of Old Winchester Hill has never been excavated though a magnetometer survey carried out in 1995 by the AML @HistoricEngland detected scatters of pits but no obvious roundhouses

Artillery practice in WWII may also have had an impact !

#HillfortsWednesday

Old Winchester Hill #Hampshire @sdnpa @NaturalEngland commands extensive views in all directions

The outlook from the hillfort ramparts is breath-taking

#HillfortsWednesday #OnTopOfTheWorld

A 360 degree pan across the Iron Age ramparts (and gorgeous view) from one of the Bronze Age barrows atop Old Winchester Hill #Hampshire @sdnpa

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An excellent introduction on #HillfortsWednesday to the landscape and archaeology of Old Winchester Hill #Hampshire courtesy of @vobes the @BaldExplorer

via @YouTube