Hod Hill, in north Dorset overlooking the River Stour, is a large Iron Age hillfort of the Durotriges that was stormed by the Roman army shortly after the invasion of AD 43, most likely by Legio II Augusta under Vespasian. A Roman auxiliary fort was then constructed in the northwest corner of the captured hillfort, occupied c. AD 43–51, and is one of the earliest Roman military installations in southern Britain.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Hod Hill is significant as one of the clearest archaeological examples of the Roman subjugation of the Durotriges and the subsequent military pacification of the southwest. The fort is unusual in being placed inside a conquered native stronghold, and it housed a mixed garrison of legionaries and auxiliary cavalry — roughly 600 infantry and 250 horse — making it one of the few well-attested "vexillation" forts of this type.
Excavations by Sir Ian Richmond for the British Museum (1951–1958) recovered ballista bolts concentrated around a hut interpreted as the chieftain's, suggesting targeted Roman artillery fire, along with the plans of barrack blocks, the principia, praetorium, and granaries. Finds of weaponry, harness fittings, and early Claudian coins and Samian ware date the occupation tightly to the mid-1st century, with abandonment likely linked to the army's westward advance.
Hod Hill, in north Dorset overlooking the River Stour, is a large Iron Age hillfort of the Durotriges that was stormed by the Roman army shortly after the invasion of AD 43, most likely by Legio II Augusta under Vespasian. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a military camp site from the Roman period in Britain.
Hod Hill is classified as a Roman military camp — a military site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Roman villa 300yds (270m) W of Park House Farm buildings (3 km), Two Late Iron Age or Romano-British enclosed settlements with part of an associated field system 420m NNW of South Farm (6.4 km), Roman villa on Little Barton Hill (7.1 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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