There are no less than five lines of defence upon the south and south-east of Maiden Castle, and a feature of the work is the large amount of room provided upon the summits of the valla to afford accommodation for great bodies of defenders to stand and use their weapons.
Badbury Rings, four miles N.W. of Wimborne.—This may be classed among the greater hill fortresses inasmuch as it encloses a space of 18 acres and is furnished with three valla and their accompanying ditches. The scarps are in places very steep and 40 feet above the fosses. The eastern entrance is reminiscent of Maiden Castle, a bastion-like obstruction being thrown forward to obstruct ingress, while the great area of standing-room provided for the defenders may be looked upon as characteristic of west country forts as it is repeated in a number of others—Cadbury Castle, near Tiverton, and Shoulsbury on Exmoor, for examples. In the outer area a mound occurs, and ponds also have been formed within the fort. Investigations have brought Celtic antiquities to light and also proved its occupation by the Romans. It affords a magnificent prospect from the summit. In historic times it has been utilised, as in A.D. 901 Æthelwald the Ætheling mustered his men there after Alfred's death, upon the occasion of a popular rising.
Cadbury Castle.—This is a good example of a contour fort crowning an isolated hill 800 feet in height. Upon three sides are formidable natural precipices, and the ramparts enclose an oval inner space, which is approximately level. The valla are continuous except upon the south, where a scarped drop occurs of about 30 feet to the level of a wide berm, on the outside of which a gigantic rampart rises to the height of more than 20 feet above the berm.
Cissbury, north of Worthing.—This great fortress was constructed by men of the Flint Age, and indubitable proofs of its occupancy by a permanent population engaged in a staple trade are afforded by the immense remains of flint chippings within its area, the product of many generations of flint-knappers. The deep and wide pits within it were dug for the purpose of obtaining flints, the raw material of their industry, and these excavations were subsequently utilised for dwelling-places. The fort is advantageously situated upon the trading route between the inhabitants of the Great Forest of Anderida, covering the Weald of Sussex, and the maritime population of the southern littoral; and this fact appealed not only to Neolithic man but also the men of the Bronze and Iron Ages, who occupied it in succession. It is a camp of the plateau type with an inner vallum rising nearly 50 feet above the fosse and 20 above the inner area. General Pitt Rivers estimated that 5000 men would be required to man the ramparts effectually.