Blewburton Hill

About

Blewburton Hill is the site of an Iron Age hillfort located in Oxfordshire, in the southeast of England. It was a univallate hillfort (with a single rampart). The area is mostly farmland with some small areas of wooded copse to the south and the northeast. The hill fort may have been occupied from the 4th century BC to the 1st century BC, and replaced a small settlement surrounded by a stockade, which is estimated to have been built in the 5th or 6th century BC. The hill demonstrates three principal phases, with the first consisting of a timber palisade surrounding a small settlement consisting of a few huts, dating to about 550 BC. This was later replaced in the 4th century BC by the first version of the hillfort, which covered twice the area as that included within the earlier palisade, with a single rampart and shallow ditch. After a period of abandonment, the hillfort was refortified around 100 BC, and the ditch was deepened. The fort was finally abandoned about 50 BC, with some evidence for a violent end to its occupation. During the early Anglo-Saxon period, the hilltop was used as a cemetery.

The west side of the hill features a number of lynchets (terraces), the age and function...