The Hillfort Study Group

The Hillfort Study Group comprises individuals engaged in research on Hillforts, both in the UK as well as the rest of the world, whether by excavation, fieldwork or other types of research.

Activities

The group meets twice a year. The AGM has usually been held in Oxford in November, but other locations are now being used in different parts of the country. The AGM is followed by a number of lectures on recent research or fieldwork on hillforts, mostly in Britain, but occasionally on sites from other areas of the world.

A spring field meeting is held usually over a weekend in late April, when the group visits hillforts in a selected region, guided by an archaeologist with personal knowledge of the local sites. The weekend normally starts with a formal meeting to discuss any group business followed by a talk about the hillforts to be visited by visit leader.  Since the first field meeting in 1966 at Dorchester, Dorset, the group has visited all parts of the British Isles, as well as other countries of Europe.  See  the Past Trip Field Guides page for a map of locations.

For upcoming events, see here.

The Atlas of Hillforts

The Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland was published online in 2017. Since then the website has undergone a major upgrade with significant enhancements. However, to avoid the database becoming slowly out of date, the group has taken responsibility for maintaining it. Since it's initial publication in 2017, there have inevitably been new research findings, new discoveries, updates and corrections to incorporate.  

The core database and other datasets are available as downloadable data here. There is also a simple web form for the submission of updates, amendments and corrections. These inputs will be considered periodically by a working committee of specialists, prior to updating and reissuing the database.  This will take place once or twice a year. 

History

The founding of the group was initiated in 1965 by AHA Hogg with the object of encouraging the study and exchange of information relating to hillforts. The first meeting of a small group of archaeologists took place in London on 22 October at the Institute of Archaeology. Founder members also included Lady Aileen Fox, Nicholas Thomas, Stan Stanford, David Peacock, Peter Gelling, Christopher Hawkes, J Forde-Johnston, Peter Fowler and R Feachem. The first field meeting in 1966 was based at Dorchester, Dorset at the end of April 1966. The introductory lecture given by Peter Fowler was followed by visits to hillforts in the area, including Hambledon Hill, Hod Hill and Maiden Castle. The group currently has about 100 members composed of those who have been actively engaged in the study of hillforts and related structures, whether by excavation, fieldwork or research. The group is affiliated with the Council for British Archaeology.