Hembury is a Neolithic causewayed enclosure and Iron Age hillfort near Honiton in Devon. Its history stretches from the late fifth and early fourth millennia BC to the Roman invasion. The fort is situated on a south facing promontory at the end of a 240m high ridge in the Blackdown Hills. It lies to the north of and overlooking the River Otter valley and this location was probably chosen to give good views of the surrounding countryside as well as for defensive reasons. The Devon Archaeological Society bought the hillfort in 2022.
Ramparts inside Hembury hillfort
The development of Hembury from late Bronze Age/early Iron Age to the late Iron Age
3D view of the digital terrain model
A causewayed enclosure is a type of large prehistoric earthwork common to the early Neolithic in Europe. It is an enclosure marked out by ditches and banks, with a number of causeways crossing the ditches. More than 100 examples are recorded in France and 70 in Southern England and Wales, while further sites are known in Scandinavia, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Ireland and Slovakia.
Sketch of Whitehawk camp, a causewayed enclosure
Causewayed enclosure at Burham, Kent.