Wilbury Hill

Positioned on the Icknield Way trail, on a broad promontory on the western outskirts of Letchworth (Hertfordshire), Wilbury Hill is on a rise of chalk which gives excellent views southwards and westwards along the Chilterns escarpment.

This slight univallate hillfort (an enclosure of various shapes, between 1ha and 10ha, on or close to hilltops and defined by a single line of earthworks, usually small) forms part of a series of defended sites which developed along the Chiltern ridge in the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age.

Decades of arable farming have levelled the earthworks, and the site has also been modified by roads, quarries and biking tracks. Although modern human activities have altered the site leaving very few visible traces of the prehistoric phase, part of the enclosures remains relatively undisturbed and limited excavation indicates the presence of highly valuable archaeological information.

Wilbury Hill is one of very few sites in the region offering solid evidence of possible Early and Middle Iron Age settlement. Cropmarks, geophysical survey, and excavation in the fields to the west of the site has revealed a wealth of further prehistoric activity in the area, ranging from the Neolithic, through to the Iron Age.
Romano-British finds from within the hillfort, and an early medieval cremation, also suggest occupation and use of the site in later periods as well.

Facilities & accessibility

Access via Public Right of Way across NW corner.