Maiden Castle (Dorchester) Hillfort View all content for Maiden Castle (Dorchester)

Visited with the lovely Karen on fantastic spring day that was more like the height of summer. Were astounded by the phenomenal size of the place - it's staggering! We left the car in the car park and trekked up to the brilliantly designed western entry, with its tangle of confusing earthworks. Blind corners everywhere, and as we commented, in the heat of battle, it would have been very easy to get instantly disorientated and penned in - especially as your advance would have been seen a good while before! Atop the hillfort, we could really see how big it was - the grass simply stretched continously away from us on either side. I would imagine it would be very easy for the whole of medieval Oxford to have been swallowed up inside the enclosure. The views were splendid, and above us the skylarks did their thing, and the buzzards circled high in the blue sky. We walked well into the middle of the place, and sat and relaxed, until it got too cold. Walked back via the ramparts; amazing what one can do with an antler . . . From there, we set off to see the Cerne Abbas Giant in the evening sunshine.

Posted by treaclechops 31st August 2003ce

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