Human remains have been found around the site including a cleaved skull of a four-year-old child
Amidst beautiful open fields and views of the fens, is a manmade hill with a rather peculiar history. Today, it is an open-access site featuring ancient earthworks, where sheep grazing happily. But thousands of years ago, it is believed that a vicious battle took place here.
Stonea Camp, near March, is an Iron Age multivallate hill fort. It is situated on a gravel bank just two metres above sea level, making it the lowest hill fort in Britain. However, this fascinating fact doesn’t compare with its remarkable history.
The fort is believed to have been the site of a intense battle between the Romans and the Iceni Tribe of East Anglia. This powerful battle was between the Iceni tribe and a Roman auxiliary force under governor Ostorius Scapula. The battle took place in 47 AD and is mentioned by Tacitus who was a Roman historian and recorded the stories of important events in Roman history.
The rebellion was supposedly triggered by attempts to disarm the East Anglian tribe. The story tells that the Iceni led neighbouring tribes in an uprising against the governor but Ostorius defeated them by storming a hill fort in a hard-fought battle.
Human remains have been found around the site including sword-marked adult bones and the cleaved skull of a four-year-old child. This is believed to indicate the inhabitants were trapped and attacked within the settlement.
Stonea was also the location of a four-storey Roman tower that was built within site of the Stonea Camp fortifications. It is thought that the building may have been constructed to suppress further Iceni rebellion or settlement at this site.
Nowadays, Stonea Camp survives as a peaceful place to go for a walk, a stark contrast to its violent past.