Midsummer Hill

Midsummer Hill Camp is a large multivallate hillfort with defensive annex and dyke in a commanding position on Midsummer and Hollybush Hills, west of the River Severn.

The hillfort enclosure is irregular in plan, approximately 370 metres long by 240 metres wide with two entrances on the northern and south western sides and three modern gaps in the ramparts. The hillfort was defended by double ramparts with external quarry ditches. Excavation has shown that the inner rampart bank is constructed of rubble with stone revetments and a stone floored guard house is situated near the southern entrance with similar guard buildings and bridges located along the rampart.

The banks and ditches of the Midsummer Hill Camp have been levelled at the southern end to form the entrance to the annex. The annex enclosure is situated to the south east of the hillfort and is approximately 360 metres long and 110 metres wide.

A series of terraces are cut into the hillside are that contain approximately 400 stone hut circles each about 6 metres in diameter. Excavations of a stone hut circle revealed stone flooring, refuse and storage pits and evidence of metal working.

A pillow mound is situated to the east of the southern entrance of the fort A vaguely rectangular mound up to 70 centimetres high, 50 metres long and 8 metres wide with a surrounding quarry ditch. Several linear features are located within and around the site including a boundary dyke that extends through the site joining the Shire Ditch at the north east of the hillfort. Excavations within the hillfort have revealed Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery and artefacts that show that the hillfort was established in the 5th century BC and was occupied for about five hundred years.

Midsummer Hill is in Malvern Hills AONB, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Created: 28  June  2021  Edited: 29  November  2023