Caesar's Camp

Caesar’s Camp is an Iron Age hill fort on the Surrey–Hampshire border near Farnham and Aldershot. It stands on a low hill 177 metres above sea level, with sandy Bagshot Beds on its northern slopes. The fort occupies an irregular promontory and once had multiple rings of earthworks. Military use in the 20th century disturbed parts of the southeast corner. The site lies within a Site of Special Scientific Interest called Bourley and Long Valley. The camp’s defences were built in three Iron Age phases before being reused in the medieval period. The earliest phase was a single rampart; later phases added timber palisades and then earthen banks. A medieval park pale was laid along the western edge, using the old Iron Age ramparts. Historic England recognises the fort as nationally important because large multivallate Iron Age forts are rare. Visitors walk the surviving ramparts and ditches that still trace the hill’s contours. On the east side the inner rampart is 10 metres wide and 3 metres high, with a 2-metre-deep ditch beside it. The strongest defences lie on the south where the ramparts cut across level ground. From the top there are views over the surrounding heathland and, on clear days, landmarks as far away as the Shard and Canary Wharf.