Sharpenhoe Clappers hillfort - Bedfordshire day walk

Sharpehoe clappers is an Iron Age hillfort in Bedfordshire situated upon the chalk escarpment overlooking the Flit Valley. Although now covered in woodland, from its edge the hillfort commands dramatic panoramic views across the flood plain below. The site is owned by the National Trust and is a Scheduled Monument open to the public, connected via the Iknield Way to Sundon Park further along the ridge. 

The promontory hillfort commands the chalk ridge some 90m above the surrounding countryside and is roughly rectangular in plan, defined by steep slopes on all but the southern side. A mature beech wood now covers the plateau within the fort. There is no evidence for ramparts on the eastern or western rim, although a timber palisade would have provided sufficient defence for the natural gradients. Two banks aligned across the neck of the spur separate the fort from the high ground to the south. The interior of the Iron Age fort remained as pasture until the establishment of the beech plantation in the 1840's, and is thought to have been used as a medieval warren. The warren may have been enclosed by a fence separating the rabbits from surrounding areas of cultivation. The name `Clappers' was documented in 1575 and derives from the latin term `claperius', or the french `clapier', meaning a heap of stones or rabbit hole.

The interior of the fort was used intensively for settlement and related activities, including roundhouses and enclosures for animals between the sixth century BC and the mid-first century AD and was a settlement of high status, probably occupied on a permanent basis, with its choice of location as much to do with display as defence. Promontory forts are rare nationally with less than 100 recorded examples. This one is among a series of defended sites established along the Chiltern Ridge during the late Bronze Age and occupied into the Iron Age. It is, however, the only promontory fort. The site lies between Ravensburgh Castle (3km to the east) and Ivinghoe Beacon (15km to the south west) and is situated on a prehistoric road called the Icknield Way. The road joined the Ridgeway at Ivinghoe Beacon, near Tring, to Peddar's Way at Knettishall Heath, near Thetford, over a distance of 110 miles.