The largest and most famous hillfort in Southern England. It has massive fortifications which are best appreciated from the air, although its enormous ditches are as impressive from the ground as well. Mortimer Wheeler carried out a series of excavations in the 1930s and they revealed that the earliest monument on the top was a neolithic causewayed enclosure. In 1985-6 further excavations provided more evidence of the development and history of the hillfort. It was altered on many occasions and finally encircled with massive multivallate defensive (huge ditches and banks) and complex entrances on the east and west sides.

Inside the ramparts were found ammunition dumps of beach pebbles used as slingstones. In the Dorset County Museum, in Dorchester, a room is dedicated to Maiden Castle and all the many interesting finds from the excavations, can be seen there. Photo taken from the W in January 1991 - FR 37/56.