LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
Scroll left/right to view further images.
HER: Hertfordshire MHT3 (None)
NMR: TL 1 0 NW 1 (361842)
SM: 1003518
NGR: TL 124 069
X: 512420 Y: 206990 (OSGB36)
An extensive area to the W of Roman town of Verulamium (St Albans) recognised to be the late Iron Age place Verlamium as on coins of Tasciovanus. Covers c. 7 square kilometres of a plateau overlooking the Ver valley, it's edges and the valley itself. Partly defined by a series of massive dykes including Devil's Dyke, Prae Wood and Beech Bottom which may connect with the site of Wheathampstead to the NE (Atlas number 1831). A series of major excavations (not least Wheeler and Wheeler 1936; Frere 1983; Hunn 1980; Saunders and Havercroft 1982; Stead and Rigby 1989) have shown a series of enclosures with occupation together with evidence for high status burial and ritual activities dating to the late Iron Age (summarised by Bryant 2007). Included here as a possible oppidum.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Unconfirmed
X: -41506 Y: 6755099 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -0.3728569310210084 Latitude: 51.750286442945914 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England
Current County or Unitary Authority: Hertfordshire
Historic County: Hertfordshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: St. Michael
N/A as not a hillfort
| Extant | ✗ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
None
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✗ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
N/A as not a hillfort
| Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Partial Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort | ✗ |
| Hillslope Fort | ✗ |
| Level Terrain Fort | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort | ✗ |
| Hilltop | ✗ |
| Coastal Promontory | ✗ |
| Inland Promontory | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop | ✗ |
| Ridge | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp | ✗ |
| Hillslope | ✗ |
| Lowland | ✗ |
| Spur | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: None
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: Nonem
N/A
N/A as not a hillfort
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
N/A as not a hillfort
N/A as not a hillfort
None
| None | ✗ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Features | ✓ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Excavation | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Geophysics | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Finds | ✓ |
| Pottery | ✗ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✓ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
N/A as not a hillfort
| None: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
N/A as not a hillfort
| Area 1: | Noneha. |
| Total: | Noneha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | None |
| SE Quadrant: | None |
| SW Quadrant: | None |
| NW Quadrant: | None |
| Total: | None |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
None
| None | ✓ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Rubble | ✗ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| None | ✓ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Murus Duplex | ✗ |
| Timber-framed | ✗ |
| Timber-laced | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
Number of Ditches: None
| ✗ | None |
Bryant, S. 2007. Central places or special places? The origins and development of 'oppida' in Hertfordshire, in Haselgrove, C. and Moore, T. (eds) The Later Iron Age in Britain and Beyond. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 62-80.
Cunliffe, B. and Rowley, T. (eds) 1976. Oppida: the beginnings of urbanisation in Barbarian Europe, BAR Int Ser 11.
Frere, S. 1983. Verulamium excavations, Vol. II. Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, No. 41. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hunn, J.R. 1980. The earthworks of Prae Wood: an interim account. Britannia, XI, 21-30.
Saunders, C. and Havercroft, A.B. 1982. Excavations on the line of the Wheathampstead by-pass 1974 and 1977. With some thoughts on the oppida at Wheathampstead and Verulamium by C. Saunders. Hertfordshire Archaeol, 8, 11-39.
Stead, I.M. and Rigby, V. 1989. Verulamium: the King Harry Lane site. English Heritage Archaeological Report 12. London: English Heritage.
Wheeler, R.E.M. and Wheeler, T.V. 1936. Verulamium. A Belgic and two Roman cities. Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, No. XI. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Atlas of Hillforts:
Wikidata:
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
Document Version 1.1