Credenhill Camp, Herefordshire: An Iron Age Hill-Fort Capital

Abstract

SummaryExcavations in 1963 established that the 50 acre hill-fort was permanently occupied from perhaps c. 390 B.C. until c. A.D. 75. Comparison of its four-post rectangular huts with other rectilinear buildings in Iron Age Britain is held to support the view that the oblong buildings at Credenhill were dwellings. On the basis of the density of such buildings at Croft Ambrey a population of about 4,000 is suggested for Credenhill, which is twice as large as any other Herefordshire hill-fort. Its size and centrality in an Iron Age region characterized by large univallate hill-forts, rectangular buildings and Group B1 stamped pottery makes it an obvious candidate for the role of capital of a territory that was broadly co-extensive with the modern county. It is suggested that the Iron Age inhabitants were the Decangi of Tacitus, conquered by Scapula in A.D. 48.

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