Key Stage 2 history · British history

KS2 Iron Age Britain and hill forts: a guide for parents

The Iron Age in Britain ran from about 800 BC until the Roman invasion in AD 43. In Key Stage 2, children learn about tribal kingdoms, hill forts, roundhouses, farming, trade and a distinctive style of art. The topic also challenges old ideas of Iron Age people as simple and warlike, and it gives children practice in asking good historical questions about change, cause and difference.

Iron Age Britain, explained

The National Curriculum asks children in Years 3 to 6 to study changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. Iron Age hill forts, tribal kingdoms, farming, art and culture is one of the examples given in the programme of study. These examples are non-statutory, so schools choose which sites and aspects to explore. Children are expected to note connections, contrasts and trends over time, to use historical terms accurately, and to ask valid questions such as “What changed?”, “Why did it change?” and “How important was it?”

Iron began to be used in Britain from about 800 BC. Iron ore is found in many places, so iron tools were cheaper and more widely available than bronze, which relied on copper and tin. A blacksmith heated iron in a very hot furnace and hammered it into shape to make ploughs, axes, knives, swords and tools. Iron-tipped ploughs could cut through heavier soils more easily, and farmers grew wheat, barley and beans, and kept cattle, sheep, pigs and horses. Grain was stored in pits and in raised stores and ground into flour on stone querns.

Britain was not one country. It was divided among many tribes, each with its own leaders, territory and sometimes its own coins. Examples that schools may mention include the Iceni in East Anglia, the Brigantes in the north and the Durotriges in Dorset. Tribes traded, made alliances and sometimes fought each other. Many tribes built hill forts: hilltop settlements surrounded by banks, called ramparts, and ditches, with strong gateways. Maiden Castle in Dorset is one of the largest in Britain. Most families lived in farmsteads in roundhouses, with timber frames, walls of woven branches covered with clay, and thatched roofs.

Iron Age Britons did not write, so what we know comes from archaeology and from Roman writers, who were outsiders and often enemies and so have to be read carefully. The art of the period is striking: flowing curves and spirals on metalwork, mirrors and shields, and gold neck rings called torcs, such as those found at Snettisham in Norfolk. Some historians use the word Celtic for this art and for related languages, though they debate whether people in Britain used the word about themselves. Towards the end of the Iron Age, some tribes began to make their own coins, and trade with the Roman world across the Channel grew, bringing in goods such as wine. This shows how connected Britain already was before the Romans invaded.

Words your child will hear

Iron Age: The period in Britain from about 800 BC until the Roman invasion in AD 43.
Tribe: A group of people who share a leader, a territory and a way of life.
Hill fort: A settlement on a hill, surrounded by banks and ditches for protection.
Rampart: A bank of earth, sometimes with a wooden wall on top, built to defend a place.
Roundhouse: A round house with a cone-shaped thatched roof, the usual home in Iron Age Britain.
Quern: A pair of stones used for grinding grain into flour by hand.
Torc: A thick metal neck ring, often gold or bronze, worn by important people.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 2 says:

Pupils should be taught about changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age
Pupils should note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms.
Pupils should regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

A worked example: asking a historical question

Was a hill fort built mainly for fighting or for living in?

Look for evidence of defence. Hill forts have high banks and deep ditches, strong gateways with narrow, twisting entrances, and in some cases heaps of round sling stones. These show that attack was a real risk.
Look for evidence of living. Inside many hill forts archaeologists have found post-holes where roundhouses stood, hearths and storage pits with traces of grain. That suggests that people lived there, or at least stored food there.
Look for evidence of work and trade. Quern stones, pottery, scraps of metal from workshops and, at some forts, goods that came from across the sea show that people made things and traded.
Notice that hill forts were not all the same. Some were lived in all year, some were used for meetings or in times of danger, and many were no longer used by the end of the Iron Age. Ask what changed, and why.
Make a judgement, with a reason for it. There is evidence for both uses, so the best answer says both and explains why.

Hill forts were built to be defended, as their ramparts, ditches and gateways show, but they were also places to live, store grain, work and trade. The evidence suggests they were used for several purposes, and that different forts were used in different ways at different times.

Common mistakes and how to help

“Iron Age people were primitive savages”

The main written accounts come from Romans, who wrote about their enemies, and cartoons repeat the image.

What helps: Point to the evidence: skilled ironwork, farming that fed large communities, long-distance trade and beautiful metal art. Ask why a Roman writer might describe people this way.

“Britain was one country with one king”

We think of Britain as a single country today and read that back into the past.

What helps: Use a map of tribal areas. Tribes had their own rulers, and sometimes allied with each other or with Rome, and sometimes fought each other. That is part of why Rome could conquer them one at a time.

Thinking a hill fort is a castle, with a king and knights

The word “fort” and the hilltop setting recall medieval castles.

What helps: Hill forts are more than a thousand years older than medieval castles and were made of earth and timber. Look at pictures and ask what is the same and what is different.

“Iron replaced bronze overnight”

A timeline shows one period ending and another starting.

What helps: Iron use spread gradually and bronze continued to be used for jewellery and decoration. Look for the word “about” in dates, and ask why a change takes time.

How to help at home

Draw or model a hill fort. In a sand tray, garden soil or with cardboard, build a hill with ramparts and a ditch. Ask your child where the entrance should go and why a narrow, twisting gate helps defenders.
Grind your own flour. With an adult, rub a few dried oats between two clean, flat stones over a plate to see how a quern works. Keep fingers away from the edges of the stones, and do not eat the result. Talk about how long it would take to feed a whole family this way every day.
Design Celtic-style patterns. Draw flowing curves and spirals on paper, or press them into clay or salt dough with a blunt pencil. Look at pictures of torcs and shields and compare them with your pattern.
Imagine a day in a roundhouse. Ask your child to describe a day for a child of their age in an Iron Age village: jobs, food, animals, weather. Then ask what they would miss most and what would surprise them.
Spot a hill fort on a map. Look at a map of your area for hills with “fort”, “camp” or “castle” in the name, and find out if any is an Iron Age site. A walk to one, with an adult, is a good way to see ramparts for yourself.

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: Medieval Britain 1066 to 1509
Key Stage 3: Tudors and Stuarts: Britain 1509 to 1745
Key Stage 3: Britain 1745 to 1901: industry and empire
Key Stage 3: Britain and the world, 1901 to today
Key Stage 3: The Holocaust