Herefordshire Beacon: British Camp

• Little Malvern, Herefordshire.
• OSGB – SO 76057 39604.
• Scheduled Monument.

Iron Age hill fort. Medieval motte and bailey castle.

Had three phases of construction.

Possibly the northern outpost for the Dobunni tribe.

Finds include Iron Age and Roman pottery sherds, 118 hut platforms of which some diameters are 15.2m.

Tradition states that the ancient British Chieftain, Caractacus made his last stand against the Romans on the site.

3 C  BC                       First construction phase: Single stone revetted rampart and ditch enclosing 8 acres. Oval shaped and sitting at the centre of the ridge. Entrances to the north east and south west

800 BC-500 BC          Early Iron Age: Possibly: Single rampart and ditch with counterscarp bank built around the 1000ft contour line, enclosing the original camp giving 5 acres to the north and 9 acres to the south.

500 BC – 60                Middle to late Iron Age: Four entrances were added with three of them being to the south.

3 C                              Before: Believed to have been built as a fortified border post.

12 C                            Site occupied. Normans built a motte and bailey castle on the site and the Iron Age defences were used to form an outer bailey. The motte stood 340m.

1405                            The castle was attacked by the forces of Owain Glyndwr.

1869                             Surveyed.

1879                            Excavated.

1895                             Surveyed.

1932                             Surveyed.

1940-1941                   World War II: Defended.

1967                             Field Investigation.

1971                              Field Investigation.

1987                             Scheduled.

1999-2000                  Surveyed.

2006                             New path created.