Knook Castle

Knook Castle stands on Knook Down in Wiltshire, an Iron Age hillfort with a single ditch and a roughly rectangular plan. The site has one entrance on the south side and a later break in the western wall. Nearby are traces of two Romano-British settlements, Knook Down East and West, linked by an old ditch. The hillfort is a scheduled monument, protected for its historical importance. Public footpaths cross the downs, with the Imber Range perimeter path running just north of the site. The site is worth visiting for its deep layers of history. Excavations have uncovered objects from the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Romano-British periods. Archaeologists like Sir Richard Colt Hoare and William Cunnington worked here in the 19th century. More recently, Leslie Grinsell reviewed the site in the 1950s. Many finds now rest in the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes. The surrounding area also holds numerous tumuli and barrows from earlier centuries. Visitors find a grassy hilltop with clear earthworks marking the old defences. The Romano-British settlements nearby show trackways, enclosures and field systems still visible in the soil. Finds include Roman coins, bracelets, hearths with painted stucco and burial remains with a basalt axe. The downs stretch out around the site, with the military ranges of Salisbury Plain to the north. The landscape carries the marks of ancient villages, hollow ways and possible small amphitheatres.