The Forts of Celtic Britain
It I always a pleasure to read Osprey books. Well written, finely illustrated, with plenty of good photographs, they are short but exhaustive works. The one reviewed here is no exception.
Angus Konstam, author of The Historical Atlas of the Celtic World, provides an informative survey of Celtic fortifications from and around 500 BC until some decades after the Roman invasion of England of AD 80. Hill-forts and brochs are the most common fortifications that still dot English landscape. While the first are spread all over the island, the latter (still imposing stone-built towers) are concentrated in northern Scotland, especially in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.
Although smaller than the Gallic forts encountered by Julius Ceasar in his campaigns, some British hill-forts were big enough to provide space for medium-seized towns. It is not completely clear how and when the forts were used, but, while some accomodated permanent settlements, others are likely to have been occupied in time of danger or for some particular reason. Most of them appear to have fallen into disuse after the Roman conquest, but a few were occupied in the next centuries.
British Celtichill-forts were sited to make to best possible use of the ground on which they were built. If some were little more than enclosures penning domestic animals and had little military use, others were protected by a complex and formidable series of banks, ditches and ramparts. Of course great emhasis was placed on strenghtening the gateway defences, the weakest point, were the builders placed a good number of obstacles in order to channels the enemies into killing zones were they could be easily hit. Additional obstacles, for instance wooden stakes or jagged rocks, were sometimes used to hinder any attacker from approaching the gate. However, these fortifications were sadly unfit to withstand a siege laid by a better equipped and techologically superior foe such the Roman army, who probably only needed a demonstration of its military might to force the surrender of most of the Celtic fortresses. It is interesting to note how some hill-forts were exploited by the Romas as training grounds where to practise siege techniques.
For those who want to visit the places described in this book, the last pages provide an useful list of sites open to the public and museums containing Iron Age artefacts. Overall, Konstam provides an excellent survey, indeed a good introduction to of a fascinating and worthy topic.