Part of the Hillforts of the Ridgeway Project

Fieldwork in 1998, 1999 and 2000

Post-excavation is on-going, but see the following article for a discussion of the site within its landscape setting:

Gosden, C. and Lock, G. 2003. Becoming Roman on the Berkshire Downs: the evidence from Alfred’s Castle. Britannia, 34, pp.65-80.

Alfred’s Castle is a small enclosure that lies a couple of kilometres south of the Ridgeway. It has a large enclosure attached that shows as a cropmark, excavation showed this to be contemporary with the small enclosure, started c.6th century BC. The hillfort was established within a series of late Bronze Age linear ditches and revealed much evidence for occupation within it. In the late first century AD a Romano-British farmhouse was built within the abandoned prehistoric enclosure.

Romano-British farmstead overlying Iron Age pits

The artist Simon Callery also worked with us at Alfred’s Castle producing a remarkable piece of work called Trench 10 – a full-size plaster cast of a 20m by 2m chalk surface.

Interim reports are available here as downloadable PDF files:

The Alfred’s Castle 1998 interim report
Lock, G. and C. Gosden. 1999. Hillforts of the Ridgeway Project: excavations at Alfred's Castle 1998. South Midlands Archaeology. 29, pp.44-53.

The Alfred’s Castle 1999 interim report
Lock, G. and C. Gosden. 2000. Hillforts of the Ridgeway Project: excavations at Alfred's Castle 1999. South Midlands Archaeology. 30, pp.82-90.

The Alfred’s Castle 2000 interim report
Gosden, C. and Lock, G. 2001. Hillforts of the Ridgeway Project: excavations at Alfred's Castle 2000. South Midlands Archaeology. 31, pp.80-9.