Sidbury Hill facts for kids
Sidbury Hill
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 Location in Wiltshire
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| Location | Wiltshire |
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| Coordinates | 51°15′13″N 1°41′29″W / 51.2537°N 1.6913°W |
| Area | 17 acres (7 ha) |
| History | |
| Periods | Iron Age |
| Site notes | |
| Public access | not easy |
Sidbury Hill, also called Sidbury Camp, is a very old fort built on a hill. It dates back to the Iron Age, a time when people used iron tools and weapons. This ancient site is located on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England.
The hillfort is shaped a bit like a triangle and covers about 17 acres. It was built on top of an even older settlement from the Neolithic period, also known as the New Stone Age.
Sidbury Hill was a great place for a fort because its slopes made it hard for enemies to attack. The people who built it also added two large ditches and earth walls to make it even stronger. Archaeologists have dug here a few times, in the 1800s and 1950s. They found old pottery and other interesting items. During the 1950s dig, they discovered the older Stone Age settlement. They found many flint tools and flakes there.
Today, Sidbury Hill is a protected national monument. Trees planted in the 1960s were removed starting in 2002. This allowed the area to return to its natural chalk grassland. Getting to the site can be tricky because it is on land used by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). You might see tank tracks, and sometimes there are military exercises. The area also has many other old ditches, burial mounds (called barrows and tumuli), and ancient pathways.
Where is Sidbury Hill?
Sidbury Hill is located near the town of Tidworth. The top of the hill is 223 meters (about 730 feet) above sea level. There are public footpaths and bridleways (paths for horses) in the area. However, the land around the hillfort is managed by the MOD. This means that sometimes access to the hillfort itself might be limited for safety reasons.
