Battlefields›Roman Assault on Maiden Castle (East Gate)
Roman Period

Roman Assault on Maiden Castle (East Gate)

43
England
Era
Roman Period
Battle Type
Siege
Location
England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Durotriges
VS
Victor
Legio II Augusta (Roman army, per Wheeler's interpretation)
Outcome
Wheeler interpreted the evidence as a Roman ballista barrage on the east gate followed by an infantry assault that overran the defences, with the dead buried in a hasty 'war cemetery' just inside the gate. This narrative is now heavily disputed: Sharples (1991) found the burnt layers at the site are associated with ironworking rather than destruction, and Russell (2019, Oxford Journal of Archaeology) and other recent scholars argue the 'war cemetery' skeletons show no firm evidence they died at Maiden Castle or in a single Roman assault, and that the supposed ballista-bolt skull wound may instead be a native-made javelin or spear injury. There is now little consensus that a Roman military assault on the hillfort as Wheeler described actually took place.
The Battle

History & Significance

Roman Assault on Maiden Castle (East Gate) was a Roman siege, the investment of a fortified position, fought in England in 43. Legio II Augusta (Roman army, per Wheeler's interpretation) prevailed over Durotriges. Wheeler interpreted the evidence as a Roman ballista barrage on the east gate followed by an infantry assault that overran the defences, with the dead buried in a hasty 'war cemetery' just inside the gate. This narrative is now heavily disputed: Sharples (1991) found the burnt layers at the site are associated with ironworking rather than destruction, and Russell (2019, Oxford Journal of Archaeology) and other recent scholars argue the 'war cemetery' skeletons show no firm evidence they died at Maiden Castle or in a single Roman assault, and that the supposed ballista-bolt skull wound may instead be a native-made javelin or spear injury. There is now little consensus that a Roman military assault on the hillfort as Wheeler described actually took place.

Confirmed battlefield location
The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Roman Assault on Maiden Castle (East Gate) lies on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.

Casualties & Losses
  • Wheeler recorded roughly 14 individuals in the 'war cemetery' at the east gate with signs of violent death, including one skull with a square (ballista-type) piercing and one vertebra with an embedded iron arrowhead; over a dozen iron arrowheads of Roman military type were found scattered near the east entrance. Modern reassessment (Russell 2019) disputes that these injuries prove a Roman attack or that the individuals died at Maiden Castle itself.
Questions & Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

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Overview
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Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Domesday
The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
LiDAR
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Local Names
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Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
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Legal
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Roman Assault on Maiden Castle (East Gate)

Maiden Castle
Maiden Castle
Scheduled monument · ~0.1 mi

Maiden Castle is a Neolithic and Iron Age hillfort located near Dorchester in Dorset, England. The site was first occupied during the Neolithic period, around 3500 BCE, when a causewayed enclosure was constructed, and was subsequently developed into a substantial multivallate hillfort during the…

Major George Allen (1891–1940) / Public domain / Wikimedia Commons
Long barrow, three bell barrows, fancy barrow and a linear earthwork 800m north of Maiden Castle
Long barrow, three bell barrows, fancy barrow and a linear earthwork 800m north of Maiden Castle
Scheduled monument · ~0.5 mi

This site is a complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age funerary monuments located approximately 800 metres north of Maiden Castle in Dorset. The group comprises a long barrow of Neolithic date, three bell barrows of Bronze Age origin, and an associated fancy barrow, alongside a linear earthwork that…

Nilfanion / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
The Clandon Barrow, 450m west of Clandon Farm
The Clandon Barrow, 450m west of Clandon Farm
Scheduled monument · ~0.9 mi

The Clandon Barrow is a Bronze Age burial mound located near Clandon Farm in Dorset. The monument survives as an earthwork consisting of a circular mound, typical of funerary monuments constructed during the Bronze Age period when such barrows were the primary form of burial monument across south…

Anthony Johnson / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Henge, Romano-British amphitheatre and Civil War fieldworks known collectively as Maumbury Rings
Henge, Romano-British amphitheatre and Civil War fieldworks known collectively as Maumbury Rings
Scheduled monument · ~1.6 mi

Maumbury Rings is a Romano-British amphitheatre located near Dorchester in Dorset, England. The monument comprises a substantial circular earthwork with a diameter of approximately 90 metres, created during the late first or early second century AD as a place of public gathering and entertainment…

Chris McKenna (user:Thryduulf) / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Medieval settlement of Winterborne Farringdon and associated remains
Medieval settlement of Winterborne Farringdon and associated remains
Scheduled monument · ~1.8 mi

Winterborne Farringdon is a medieval settlement site located in Dorset, England, with archaeological remains dating to the medieval period. The site comprises the earthwork remains of a nucleated village, including house platforms, field systems, and associated landscape features that reflect med…

Chris Downer / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
The Nine Stones: a small concentric stone circle 750m west of Winterbourne Abbas
The Nine Stones: a small concentric stone circle 750m west of Winterbourne Abbas
Scheduled monument · ~3.8 mi

The Nine Stones is a small concentric stone circle situated approximately 750 metres west of Winterbourne Abbas in Dorset. The monument consists of two rings of standing stones arranged concentrically, a layout that distinguishes it from the majority of Neolithic and Bronze Age stone circles in s…

Michael Murray / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Long barrow immediately north west of Maiden Castle
Scheduled monument · ~0.3 miles
Four bowl barrows immediately north west of Maiden Castle
Scheduled monument · ~0.4 miles
More from this era

Other Roman Period Battles

Siege of Maiden Castle
43
Dorset, England
Roman Assault on Maiden Castle 43 AD
43
Dorset, England
Vespasian's assault on Calleva Atrebatum
43
Hampshire, England
Vespasian's Campaign against the Durotriges
43
Dorset, England
In the same landscape

Battles near Roman Assault on Maiden Castle (East Gate)

Siege of Maiden Castle
43
~0 miles away
Roman Assault on Maiden Castle 43 AD
43
~0.4 miles away
Siege of Abbotsbury 1644
1644
~4.7 miles away
French Raid on Weymouth 1342
1342
~5.9 miles away
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