The Dumnonii

Hillsborough Promontory Fort

The scale of the earthworks on Hillsborough is very impressive - two 12' high banks run parallel right across the headland for about 300 metres (shown above outlined in red), with turned-back entrances to both banks on the eastern end, forming a large area on top of the headland protected by the earthworks to the south and by cliffs or steep slopes on the other three sides.

The banks themselves are on a slope and were created by pulling earth down from above. An ancient burial cist was found in 1937 but was filled-in before it was excavated.

Hillsborough is unique in N Devon, except for Wind Hill at Countisbury, which truncates a much larger headland. It could certainly be defended, but was probably a status symbol for the tribe, like a town hall, as much as for defense.

First Settlements in Hele

There is a level platform just to the north of the earthworks where there may have been an Iron Age settlement inside the hillfort. Outside the hillfort, traces of hut circles have been seen in the past on Larkstone Meadows and these might also be from the Iron Age.

Land around the fort would have been cultivated and almost certainly there would have been other settlements nearby; the hillfort and Larkstones could not support all the people necessary for its construction and defense. 

The hillfort was abandoned just before, or early in the Roman occupation, and individual farms were probably established by the Romano-British which later became the manors of Domesday - and which still define the local landscape to this day.