Cissbury Ring

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cissbury Ring is a hill fort on the South Downs, in the civil parish of Findon, about 5 km north of Worthing in the English county of West Sussex.

It is the largest hill fort in Sussex and among the largest in Britain overall. The earthworks that form the fortifications were built around the beginning of the Middle Iron-Age but abandoned in the period 50 BC - 50 AD. Long before the hill was fortified, flint mines were being worked on in the area. Some shafts went down as far as 40 feet. This process was done using only antler horns as tools. The present day ditches and banks are what is left of a great defensive wall that enclosed 65 acres of land; the inner band of the wall is over a mile around. The ditches are said to be as deep as three metres and were filled with loosened chalk and covered with timber palisade. The 600-foot (184m) hill is open to the public but the climb is said to be "not for the faint hearted." From the top, one is able to see Selsey, Chichester Cathedral and the Spinnaker Tower. Cissbury Ring is the highest point in the borough of Worthing.