There are hundreds of Iron-age hillforts around Britain, and
each has its claim to fame. This fort near Stonea in Cambridgeshire
has the claim that it's the lowest 'hill'fort in Britain - it was
built on a gravel island in the Fens, just 2 metres above sea
level!
During the last ice age, Britain was connected to Europe by
land, and the Fenland rivers drained into the Rhine. As the ice
melted, the burden was lifted off Scotland, which rose, and the
south of England fell in a see-saw motion. The melting ice caused
rising seas too, and the fens were plunged under water and became
marshlands, just a few feet below sea level in some cases, but
mostly around about sea level.
Across the fens were ridges of silt or gravel, forming islands
in the marshes, and these formed the basis for settlements. Stonea
was such an island, and it derives its name form the fact it was an
island of stones. Nearby Wimblington was another fen island.
With marshes to the south and west (and also to the north, but
slightly further away) and steep-sided ditches to the fort, the
residents must've felt pretty safe. However, they didn't bank on
the Romans, and were fairly easily overcome. After the Romans left,
the fort continued as a centre of activity, with artefacts from the
6th and 7th centuries being unearthed in recent years. Nearby
Stonea is the only Roman-age town on the whole of the Fens.
A farm building was built on the camp around about 1000BC, and
through extensive re-building works, remained until 1973 when it
was unfortunately demolished. At the same time, the land of the
camp itself was given over to farming, and much of the fort was
lost to ploughing. In 1990, Cambridgeshire County Council
reacquired the land, made it into a protected area and rebuilt many
of the old ditches and embankments of the original fort. The site
remains, and will always remain, an archaeological site of
interest.
I cannot do the site nealy as much justice as the information
boards there, so I strongly suggest that you follow the route
around the edge of the fort anti-clockwise reading the 5
information boards as you do. Continuing anti-clockwise will take
you to the cache and complete the walk around the site.
The cache itself is a spray-painted ammo box, hidden near the
pond that is marked on the maps. Be warned that there is deep water
in the pond (and a dead sheep when the cache was placed), so keep
an eye on children if you take them with you. The cache is easy to
find, and the terrain is easy-going. You can drive all the way up
the track past the farm, right up to the fort itself. Please keep
dogs on a lead if you take them with you, as sheep frequently graze
the area.
Happy hunting