Abstract
THE hill-fort at Oldbury, near Ightham, Kent, the excavation of which was described by Mr. J. B. Ward before the Society of Antiquaries of London on December 15, is the largest hill-fort of iron age date in Britain. Its ramparts are some two miles in circumference and enclose a space of 120 acres. Originally, it would appear from the evidence of sections cut in the ramparts, the erection was a place of refuge rather than a permanent settlement. This was at the very beginning of the first century A.D.; but later the gate facing the North Downs was elaborately refortified with stone-revetted fighting platform and outworks. The associated pottery shows that this refortification was carried out in A.D. 43 at the time of the Claudian invasion. Although Oldbury lay off the line of march of the Claudian armies proceeding from East Kent, where they landed, to Colchester, the evidence of the burning of the gates and quantities of sling stones suggest that it was sacked then or soon after. The camp was not again occupied. No Belgic pottery was found in the original fortification, but only in the later works.
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A Kentish Iron Age Hill-Fort. Nature 142, 1110 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/1421110b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1421110b0