IRON AGE (PART 3 OF 4)
As the Bronze Age gave way to the Iron Age c.500BCE, our borough ancestors began to exert their influence over larger areas, with tribal territories becoming more defined. The landscape would have had farms and hamlets scattered across it with the occupants farming the surrounding area. Rising up above the scene on local summits were, increasingly, hillforts. The exact use of these settlements is still not entirely clear, especially here in NW Surrey where it is unlikely that the locals were particularly hostile. Here in Chertsey, situated a mile to the north west of the town, St Ann’s hill rises out of the Thames Valley to a height of 240 feet (69 metres). Approximately 16 feet (5 metres) from the top of the hill was an oval, Iron Age hillfort enclosing an area of approximately 11 acres. However, due to the continued use of the hill throughout history the ground has been heavily disturbed and so much of the hillfort is incomplete.
At St. Ann’s Hill, the site is mostly univallate, that is has a single line of defense, comprising a main bank and an external ditch with an outer bank, although to the south-east there a signs of a second rampart. Alas, over the centuries the hillfort has been largely destroyed by terracing for crops, gravel quarrying and by the numerous footpaths and the old coach road which crisscross St Ann’s Hill. The excavation of flints, post-holes and ditches overlapping each other indicate that it was built over at least three phases, and intensively occupied. Hillforts served many different functions.They were citadels, tribal centres, market places for buying and selling produce and goods, and status symbols. It is not known which, or how many of these St. Ann’s fulfilled. It is possible that the hillfort was part of a network of medium sized univallate forts in the area which includes St. George’s Hill, Weybridge; Caesar’s Camp, Easthampstead; and Caesar’s Camp, Wimbledon Common.
Whilst the main centres of metal smithing during the Iron Age appear to be south of the current county borders, it is clear by finds in the area that the Thames continued to be an important trading route. This area of NW Surrey was part of an eastern region focused around the Thames Valley, but by the end of the era there had been a re-grouping of tribes. Surrey now aligned with Hampshire and Berkshire to form the territory of the Atrebates. It was during this time that coinage was first used in Britain, and with it came evidence of various tribal leaders whose names appeared on it.
Early coins were imported from Gaul but later ones were manufactured locally, however, they had no monetary values unlike modern currency. Instead they were part of a system of exchange of goods between tribes in the local area and further afield.