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Vespasian's Camp is a Iron Age hillfort located near Amesbury in Wiltshire, England. The site comprises a roughly circular enclosure defined by a substantial bank and ditch, characteristic of the Late Iron Age period, likely constructed sometime between the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. The monument takes its name from a folk tradition associating it with the Roman general Vespasian, though this attribution has no historical basis and reflects popular misconceptions about the site's origins. The hillfort occupies a strategic position on elevated ground and represents an important example of prehistoric defensive settlement in the Avon Valley landscape.
Vespasian's Camp is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1012126. View the official record →
Vespasian's Camp is a Iron Age hillfort located near Amesbury in Wiltshire, England. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1012126.
Vespasian's Camp is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1012126.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including A pond barrow and a bowl barrow 200m south east of St Mary's Church forming outliers to a round barrow cemetery at Winterbourne Gunner (7.2 km), Horse Barrow (7.3 km), 'Ende Burgh' long barrow (7.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Vespasian's Camp's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Vespasian's Camp stands on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.