Maiden Castle, Cheshire

Radiocarbon dating indicates that the ramparts defending Maiden Castle were built in around 600 BC. Built from earth and timber, the inner rampart was originally 20 ft wide, with a revetment of dry stone walling behind the bank, and at least 10 ft high. The outer bank was originally 25 ft wide and about 10 ft high. It was built from sand and had a dry stone facing at the front and no revetment behind. The outer bank was later enlarged: the outer face was extended 8 to away from the fort and the revetment moved. Its height was probably increased to 12 ft. The defences cover about 1.66 acre out of the entire 3 acre of the Maiden Castle site. According to archaeologist James Forde-Johnston,…

Maiden Castle has no artificial defences on its northern and western sides because of the naturally steep slope of the hill, but there are two artificial banks, 35 ft apart. The banks are similar in dimension, both are 40 ft wide, and because the ground they are on slopes, the exterior side of each bank is higher than the side on the inside of the fort; they are 5 ft high on the inside of the fort and 7 ft on the exterior face. There may also be two other entrances to the site where the banks meet the cliffs to the north and south; the outer ditch runs inwards at both ends, possibly indicating an in-turned entrance abutting the edge of the cliff similar to the entrance at the Helsby hill…