Walk · Dorset

Maiden Castle ramparts

Dorchester · DT2 9PR

2.6MILES

1h 15mON FOOT

110mCLIMB

CircularSHAPE

The route A-road B-road Lane Track Path Water Woodland

Off-road 90% 10% shares tarmac with cars

Field & moor path 78%Lane & track 12%Road with traffic 10%

Our drawing of the route, over road and path data from OpenStreetMap. It shows where the walk goes and what it goes through. It is not a survey and not a navigation aid — carry OS Explorer on the hill. Off-lead information here is what walkers reported or what signage allows — never our advice. Whether and when a dog is off the lead is the owner’s decision and legal responsibility; keep dogs under control near livestock and follow signs on the day.

Starts at

Free English Heritage car park at the end of Maiden Castle Road, off the A354 DT2 9PR

Parking

Free, roughly 20 spaces, and it does fill at weekends and on fine evenings; open any reasonable daylight hour with no gate

Directions to the start →

A 2.6-mile hour-and-a-quarter circuit of the largest iron age hillfort in Europe, following the full run of its triple ramparts with 110 metres of climb on close-cropped chalk turf. The going is easy but the rampart tops are narrow with steep ditches either side, and the whole thing is greasy after rain. Start at the free English Heritage car park at the end of Maiden Castle Road, which holds about twenty cars and fills at weekends; Dorchester South station is a two-mile walk away. Sheep graze the fort all year, which is why English Heritage asks for dogs on leads throughout, and there is no water and no shade anywhere on the hill.

THE SMALL PRINTEnglish Heritage asks for dogs to be kept on a lead because sheep graze the site. The ramparts are narrow with steep unfenced ditches.

House rules, decoded

Livestock — leads on

REGION · DORSET

GRID · 50.6963, -2.4695

SOURCE · HTTPS://WWW.ENGLISH-HERITAGE.ORG.UK/VISIT/PLACES/MAIDEN-CASTLE/

Maiden Castle ramparts

House rules, decoded

100 Giggles Coffee & Soft Play

Al Molo

Ashley House

Cottages you can book near Dorchester

Tell us the pub we have not walked into yet.

Get the new stamps first.

Your patch, watched for you.