Following on from last year’s successful event, Home of Hillforts & Henges is back in 2023, taking place in Dorchester from 28th to 30th July.
Celebrating a landscape rich in earthworks and the people that have lived here for over 6,000 years, activities will again take place at multiple locations across the town. A great opportunity to find out more about Dorchester’s Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age heritage.
There will be lectures, guided walks and other activities. The event concludes with an epic day of discovery and fun at Maumbury Rings with HengeFest on Sunday, 30th July – a free family day out inside the ancient monument. As well as trade stands, local food and live music, there will be a pebble labyrinth, bushcraft, living history displays, nature crafts and natural therapies – something for everyone to enjoy.
Alistair Chisholm, Mayor of Dorchester and Town Crier, said “Building on the undoubted success of last year’s event, this three day celebration of the county town’s extraordinary wealth and variety of prehistory is certain to provide both interest and entertainment for all the family culminating in the FREE “Hengefest inside Maumbury Rings. “Henge City” could serve as a soubriquet for Dorchester with its many Stone Age wooden henges of all sizes. Like its hillforts these henges take us back to our prehistory where, despite the many modern advances in archaeological investigation, there is still plenty of scope for reasoned conjecture and the imagination. Enjoy our plethora of sometimes puzzling prehistoric places.”
The event organisers thank their sponsors, who made the event possible – Kingston Maurward, Dorset Hideaways and Dorchester Town Council. Also, Humphries Kirk, Grassby Funeral Care and Duchy of Cornwall.
The event is part of the national CBA Festival of Archaeology 2023.
HengeFest 2022 Visitors
Maiden Castle © Ian Metcalfe