Hillforts & Barrows

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juamei J
juamei Sep 16, 2012 13:57:58
Replying to Evergreen Dazed

I've always assumed its a case of barrows are built on a lot of hills, some of which were later use for hillforts. Builders of hillforts respected the burial mounds of their ancestors so built around them and left them in situ. Which is kinda boring, but seems the most likely to me.

Whether certain hills were selected for forts because of the the particular barrows they contained, maybe! I presume the ones in Dorset (say) were placed in an area based upon protective / tactical needs, but the actual hill they were placed upon, the barrows may have contributed to the choice.

T thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 16, 2012 14:55:07
Replying to juamei

juamei wrote:
I've always assumed its a case of barrows are built on a lot of hills, some of which were later use for hillforts. Builders of hillforts respected the burial mounds of their ancestors so built around them and left them in situ. Which is kinda boring, but seems the most likely to me.
I'd be inclined to agree, from what I've seen. There are several forts that I've visited that have barrows inside the ramparts, eg Farmington in Glos (very reduced long barrow), Foel Fenlli and Penycloddiau (Clwydian Hills) and most recently Sully Island (near Cardiff). All of these are typical sites for IA defensive/status enclosures, I reckon they just respected the barrows and didn't want to damage them, but still wanted to use the site.