The Chilterns Conservation Board is developing an exciting project which will engage and inspire communities to discover, conserve and enjoy the Chilterns’ Iron Age hillforts and their prehistoric chalk landscapes.

The Chilterns has one of the largest collection of hillforts in the UK, yet many are poorly conserved and little is known about them. So far, we know of around twenty, but initial research has suggested there could be more, as-yet undiscovered sites, and this innovative project will use the latest technology to reveal them.

Supported and part-funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the project will provide a real focus for community and public involvement through practical excavation work, technological and survey research and a programme of events and educational activities.

Ancient hillforts have fascinated historians and archaeologists for centuries. Enduring and prominently situated, they have sparked the imaginations of generations through the glimpse they give us into our history.

Some think hillforts may have been built to mark a boundary between two distinct tribal areas. They might have been centres of ritual and ceremony. Some have evidence of roundhouses, which would point to their function as community dwellings and livestock enclosures. But who were these people? What did they do, and how did they live?

The Heritage Lottery Fund has funded the development phase of the project, but we must now secure £100,000 to match the funding they provided, by June 2017, to ensure the project can go ahead. If successful, this will be a four-year programme to commence in Autumn 2017.

If the project does not go ahead, donations will be used towards another project focused on conserving and enhancing the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.