Historic timeline of Ham Hill
Stone age
People have lived on Ham Hill for thousands of years. Long ago, Stone Age people settled here and made flint tools, like axes, which have been found on the hill.
Bronze Age
Later, during the Bronze Age, people made pots, metal objects, and buried their dead here.
Iron Age
In the Iron Age, a local tribe called the Durotriges built big earth walls around the hill to protect themselves. These walls were made with simple tools and can still be seen today. Many old objects from this time have been found, like bars used as money, brooches, pots, and even skeletons.
Roman times
After the Romans came to Britain around the year 43 AD, they took over the hill. The Romans built an army camp, a big house with 19 rooms, and helped finish building a road called the Fosse Way, which runs under parts of the A303 road today.
Middle Ages
Later, in the Middle Ages, people built a village in Witcombe valley near Ham Hill. If you take a walk down the valley, you can still see where the pond from the old village was.
The 1870s
In the 1870s, a man named George Mitchell made Ham Hill famous. Every year on Whitsun Monday, lots of workers would come to the hill with banners and bands to march and ask for fair pay and better working conditions.
You can see many of the things found at Ham Hill in the Museum of Somerset in Taunton. For more details, visit the South West Heritage Trust website or the Visitor Centre.