Caesar's Camp, Bracknell Forest

Caesar's Camp is an Iron Age hill fort and around 2600 years old. It is located just in Crowthorne civil parish (formerly Easthampstead), to the south of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire.

History

Caesar's Camp is thought to have been established around 500–300BC. It is the only hill fort of its type that has been identified in East Berkshire.^[1] Because the area it was built on was sludgy for most of the year, surrounded by dense forest, and had a thick bed of sandstone beneath the top layers of soil, it was not suitable for farming – the community at Caesar's Camp was therefore dependent on the produce of neighbouring villages, in areas such as Binfield and Arborfield. Caesar's Camp was therefore most likely used as an assembly point and a marketplace. Its huge outer walls and mile-long dump rampart also suggest that it was used as a safe haven in case of attack.

Caesar's Camp appears to have fallen under the rule of Cunobelin, king of the Catuvellauni tribe in the first century AD.^[2] Soon after, the Romans invaded England; after this time, there is no evidence that Caesar's Camp continued to exist as an inhabited community.

A road from its south entrance was later built, connecting it to the Devil's Highway. After the first century, Caesar's Camp was likely used as a resting beacon or storage facility.

Description

The layout consists of a number of steep banks and ditches in the shape of an oak leaf, enclosing a large flat area of a settlement. It is north of the Roman road known as The Devil's Highway which connected Londinium to Silchester, or Calleva Atrebatum. It is within the Crowthorne Woods part of Swinley Forest crown plantation and is located off Nine Mile Ride approximately ¾ mile from the Look Out visitor centre. On clear days, central Bracknell and Crowthorne, including Broadmoor hospital, are visible from its highest points. The camp falls within the Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths Site of Special Scientific Interest.

It is an entirely hand-built complex. The camp has suffered bad erosion, both natural and man-made, unsurprisingly for a site which is well over 2000 years old. Efforts have been made by the local council to try to restore some of the natural parts because as well as being a historic site it is also home to a number of wildlife species.^[3]

There is a second Caesar's Camp to be found in Aldershot where King Alfred was supposed to have camped when driving the Danes towards the Thames. The camp, like the one at Bracknell, was built in the Iron Age. The London skyline, including the City of London, The Shard, the British Telecom Tower and Canary Wharf can be seen from there on clear days.

1978 People's Free Festival

The site was recamped between 29 August and 8 September 1978 as it became the relocation of the last of the Windsor Free Festivals in 1978, after the forced removal of those attempting to attend the People's Free Festival, in Windsor Great Park, by police.^[4]

References

External links

• Bracknell Forest Council's website
• Caesar's Camp at the Digital Hillfort Project
• Ancient Bracknell: A Brief History

Coordinates: 51°22′59″N 0°45′36″W / 51.383°N 0.760°W / 51.383; -0.760