Time Team's 'remarkable' discovery in Shropshire hills

Bodbury Hillfort has been discovered to be six times larger than originally thought, with breakthrough research opening a 'time travel portal’ into the Iron Age on the Long Mynd

Probable remains of a Roman Iron Age settlement have also been discovered for the first time.

A representation of the Iron Age hillfort (Image: National Trust)

Thanks to funding from the Our Uplands Common project, light detection and ranging data (LIDAR) sensors, mounted on aircraft, has produced hi-resolution laser-scan data, which shows that Bodbury Ring Hillfort, on the north side of the Carding Mill Valley near Church Stretton, was six times larger than was originally thought.

The investigations, led by Time Team’s landscape archaeologist, and University of Chester Visiting Professor, Stewart Ainsworth, were part of a collaboration with the Universities of Chester and York, and Stepping Stones – a National Trust-led conservation project in the Shropshire Hills which aims to reconnect isolated patches of wildlife habitat by restoring a network of hedgerows, verges, woodland and wetlands.

Analysis of the data shows that the earthworks of Bodbury Ring are only a small part of a much larger hillfort which once enclosed the entire ridgetop of Bodbury Hill.

Professor Stewart Ainsworth (Image: National Trust)

This larger hillfort shares some characteristics with examples known to have originated in the Late Bronze Age.

Janine Young, National Trust archaeologist, said: “The new remote-sensing information provides a powerful portal for digital exploration of the Long Mynd. Using just a small sample area for research we have broken new ground in the understanding of the Iron Age in this region – without disturbing a single turf in the ground.”

Professor Ainsworth said: “The earthworks of Bodbury Ring, it seems, were constructed to form a small, more easily defended fort at the southern tip of the original hillfort, possibly in the Middle Iron Age.

"This prehistoric ‘downsizing’ may have resulted from increased tension in the region, reflecting possible changes in the geopolitical landscape of the times. Close by, on the northern side of Bodbury Hill, the remains of a probable Roman Iron Age enclosed settlement have also been identified for the first time.”