Sidbury Castle
An Iron Age hillfort under beech trees on the ridge above Sidbury, its single rampart still clear underfoot
Access unclearno public right of way confirmed — check locally before setting out
Earthworks onlybanks, ditches and platforms — read the ground, not walls
Despite the name there was never a castle up here. What survives on the wooded ridge above Sidbury is an Iron Age hillfort, a long oval of about 500 metres by 100 defended by one bank and ditch — univallate, in the jargon, meaning a single line rather than the stacked ramparts of the bigger Devon forts. The entrance was built as a narrow bottleneck, which made it awkward to rush, and a hoard of sling stones has been found inside. Trees cover the whole thing now, so you read it by the ground rising and falling rather than by any view out.
The climb from the village is short and steep, and muddy for most of the winter. Farway Castle, another East Devon earthwork of roughly the same age, is five kilometres north.
More at the National Heritage List entry
