Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #105725 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-10
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 64 pages

Synopsis
Half a millennium before the Romans first arrived in Britain an even more ferocious people, the Celts, arrived in what is now south-eastern England. The Celts remained in Britain long after the Romans departed, and although driven into the remoter corners of the island by English invaders the people who remained clung onto their Celtic heritage, and defended their remaining lands against all-comers. In order to defend their lands from other tribes or outside invaders, these people established powerful fortified sites that served as places of refuge in wartime and as administrative and trading centres in times of peace. This book examines these fascinating forts, which varied considerably from the mysterious brochs and duns found in northern Britain, to the hill-top forts ranging in size, to the promontory forts that formed powerful coastal strongholds all around the island's shores.

Customer Reviews

The Oppidum, the Broch and the Hill-Fort
This book is a short and broad overview of Celtic forts in Britain from the Early Iron Age to the Roman Conquest.
The author describes the various ancient forts found in Britain, from the famous Maiden Castle in England to the Brochs of Scotland.

In between he takes us on a tour of Danesbury in Hampshire, and he describes the less well known Tre'r Ceiri in North Wales. Various other forts, some famous others obscure, are mentioned along the way.

Konstam discusses many aspects of these Celtic Forts, from their form and function, to their construction, settlement and defence. Along the way he includes photographs of the sites, some basic maps, and a number of good colour plates by Peter Bull, which display reconstructions of these sites.

Overall this is a good introductory title. The author knows that the subject can be a potential minefield considering the difficulties of identifying which structures are forts, which date to the Iron Age, and whether Britain was truly Celtic. He does a relativily good job of it all, and should be congratulated.