Longstock and Danebury Hill-fort

Richard Clayton

You need to log in as a member of Walkingworld to access the details for this walk and have an active subscription. Please join, or log in above if you are already a member.

Danebury Iron Age Hill-fort is 2,500 years old and is arguably the best excavated of all our hill-forts. It is a nationally important Scheduled Ancient Monument and also a Site of Special Scientific Interest, well-managed by Hampshire County Council. Its tree-lined dome can be seen for many miles around.

The walk up to Danebury, from the attractive village from Longstock and back, takes place mainly along ancient by-ways, with hedgerow birds like the yellowhammer to look out for, plus in the winter, flocks of fieldfare and redwing.

Longstock itself lies to the west of the River Test. At this point the river runs in separate channels and along the banks of the river stand circular thatched huts used by anglers. The houses in the village line both sides of the road, many of them attractive timber-framed cottages.

As well as its Iron Age connections, the village is known to have been settled by the Romans and later the Danes, who believe it or not built a ship maintenance and construction yard in Longstock for their longships, fifteen miles up the Test from Southampton Water.

The Peat Spade pub makes a good start and finish point. However, if you don't know Stockbridge, don't miss the opportunity. It's a gem and provides refreshments and every other facility you might need to round off the day.

England - South England - Hampshire - Countryside

Features

Ancient Monument, Birds, Butterflies, Church, Good for Kids, Mostly Flat, Pub, Public Transport, Toilets, Wildlife

10/29/2023 - Patricia Daw

We did this walk with friends late October 2023. We also did it in reverse which is easy to do with the app. Doing it this way means the highlight - the fort - is near the end and it's mainly downhill from there. We had a great Sunday lunch at The Peat Spade where we parked the car and started from as we were returning for lunch.

7/25/2018 - Geoffrey Hands

The ideal time to do this walk is late March, early April , when there is over half a mile of mature flowering cherry trees on the Leckford (Waitrose) estate, which one walks past. I also prefer to do it anti-clockwise, passing Leckford first , mainly because ¾ of the walk is done when you reach the hill fort - which is great for a picnic lunch, then a stroll, mostly downhill, back to the car I have done it three times recently - April 14 as my first reccie, doing it clockwise, before putting it in my walking club programme , then early July into remind myself - doing it anti-clockwise, and again mid-July, leading it. Always enjoyable - and just about 3 hours of walking for me ( an elderly man). Caution - if you decide to go to the Leckfoird Estate cafe, be warned that it is a long walk up from the route - best done afterwards, when you have got your car again.

6/1/2014 - Alison Ripley Cubitt

We did this walk on the 1st June to celebrate the start of summer. It's a beautiful walk with varied scenery. I know you are working on access from the road for walkers to Danebury Hillfort. And it's urgently needed as this is a fast stretch of road and on a sunny summer's day one inexperienced driver in an open top car who wasn't driving to the conditions, suddenly had to slam on her brakes and seemed genuinely surprised that there might be walkers impeding her progress.

10/16/2011 - Jill Larby

This is a teriffic walk. Give yourself plenty of time, there's plenty to see. A visit to the Pete Spade public house after the walk was a great end to a lovely morning. What a way to spend a Sunday morning! The weather was great. Many thanks to Richard Clayton who posted the walk.

1/31/2011 - Louisa Felice

Did this walk in Jan 11 on a lovely crisp winter's day. It is a lovely walk which allowed us to discover Danebury Hillfort (well worth a visit) and then carried on along quiet farm tracks. The going in the latter half of the walk was a little uncomfortale underfoot due to the deeply rutted tracks but all in all a very pretty part of Hampshire and a walk that we will be doing again.