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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Maiden Castle
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(4km/2.5m SW of Dorchester) Vast Iron Age fort, the most impressive in Britain. The hilltop site is believed to have been occupied first in about 2000 BC, but the fortification dates from c.300 BC. A series of terraced earth ramparts, rising to a height of about 25m/80ft and with a circumference of some 3.2km/2m, once enclosed a sizable town. Its store of ammunition, excavated in the 1930s, included 22,000 pebbles from Dorset beaches, suitable for shooting from slings. They were of little use against the armour of the *Romans, who captured Maiden Castle in AD 43.
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