Hillfort can be the start of a great adventure.
The race to get
A hillfort is an ancient type of fortification (or is it?
See below!) from ages past. One could spend an
enormous amount of time describing what it would
have looked like in its heyday, what it was used for,
who lived there, how the fortifications were
constructed and so on. For our purposes a hill fort is
always a ruin. It’s a memory of a forgotten age, a
place where warriors once lived and perhaps died.
Perhaps those warriors were heroes of legend, people
larger, stronger and more noble than the people of
the present day, whenever that might be in your
game.
A hillfort can also be the physical memory of an evil
people who once inhabited that place and are the
reason people keep away. Does their memory still
linger here, and does it have any power?
A hillfort, however neglected and ruined, remains
defensible: should you find yourself out in the wild
with nowhere else to go, and a pack of orcs is about
to descend upon you, then get up that hill with all
haste!
As ancient spaces, hillforts work well as locations
that are stumbled across, unmapped, mysterious and
forgotten. They work just as well as the centre of
many legends and old tales, which the adventurers
can live in fear of, use as spring boards to seek out the
treasure, or present mysteries or foreshadowing to
investigate. A long journey to an abandoned hillfort
there first, and the travails of setting up defences
against others is certainly a solid quest.
Hillforts in folklore and old stories often sit at
crossroads, which are of course powerful places of
transformation. Historically of course there was good
reason to build forts where roads met, and to build
roads from forts to other places.
Many hillforts in the United Kingdom have given up
evidence of ritual murder and sacrifice, in addition to
their obvious function as defensive structures.
Breedon Hill, Danebury and Maiden Castle all show
evidence of such ritualised killing. Any place in a
fantastical setting that has seen conflict might be
home to spirits of the dead. Even more so when it is
the site of ritualised violence…
But were hillforts definitely fortifications? In
folkloric or mythic gaming terms of course they were.
However, archaeological research of recent years has
thrown that into doubt, and the categorisation of
these sites as military installations is less certain. The
English folklore that says a hill fort was where the
faeries stored their grain might be closer to the truth,
as these places might have been primarily cultural
centres rather than a focus of military power. But to
be honest, they’re more interesting in a game as old
castles of forgotten “knights”, whose ghosts may aid
the weary in battle, or haunt transgressors…
 Hillfort place name
generator
As any philologist who has created a fantasy world
will tell you, there’s a lot to be said about names.
Names evolve over time with the inevitable influx of
peoples speaking different languages. They gather
extra words and additional meanings in different
languages. So simply put, if your aim in creating
names is to show great age, then a combination of old
and less old elements works well.

A great example of this is “Derwent Water” in

England. This lake name means “water water water”
in three languages. So don’t fear redundancy in
naming. “Roundhill Fort” is a fine name for a
storybook or mythic hillfort, despite the extreme
redundancy.

A name can also hold a great deal of meaning and

even description of a place. Over time people in the
region might use descriptors based around the trees
and plants that can be found at a place, or provide
useful indicators of the location.

Languages we think of as ‘opposite’, or somehow

opposed often share words, and “Castle” is a fine
example of this. It’s roots lie in Latin borrowed by
those speaking old English, Welsh and Scots. And of
course, many of the roots of Latin lie in Indo-
European languages.

The lists below are hardly comprehensive, but offer a

quick way to find inspiration and name a hillfort with
something approaching a curiously mythic or Old
English feel that has the oddness of great age.

To use this naming system roll three 20 sided dice

and pick your favourite result from each list below.
While they’re presented in the most logical naming
order, don’t be afraid to mix up that order until you
get something that fits your game. Or if you prefer
simply use the lists as inspiration and pick elements
as you see fit. Whether you clump the three parts
together into one word, or break after the second and
or third components is also your choice.
Element One Element Three
1 Old 1 Fort
2 Hard 2 Castle
3 Thurs 3 Berg
4 Ash 4 Hill
5 Oak 5 Hold
6 Ivy 6 Ring
7 Elm 7 Beorg
8 Rowan 8 Camp
9 Adder 9 Keep
10 Toad 10 Round
11 Moss 11 Pound
12 Dun 12 Crag
13 Small 13 Scar
14 Sols 14 Brae
15 Dows 15 Fell
16 Green 16 Down
17 Brown 17 Mound
18 Grey 18 Hurst
19 The 19 Ham
20 Black 20 Knoll

Element Two More reading:

1 Knock • You can see my collection of visual reference here:
2 Edge https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jonnyhodgsonart/hillforts/
3 Pass • Some interesting links about hillforts:
4 Summer https://www.southdowns.gov.uk/the-trundle-folklore/
5 Hunt
Especially enjoyable here is the economy of
6 Chase
expression of the story.
7 Castel
8 Rook • There are over 4000 hill forts in Britain and Ireland
9 Raven alone! Who knew?:
10 Winter https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/aug/07/
11 Mere walking-ancient-hillforts-wiltshire-downs-england-atlas-
12 Ridge of-hillforts
13 Bank • Hillforts in the English Chilterns - Lots of very
14 Work scholarly work here!:
15 Cliff http://www.chilternsaonb.org/about-chilterns/historic-
16 Bell environment/hillforts.html
17 Clapper • List of Hillforts in Scotland:
18 Motte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
19 Beacon List_of_hillforts_in_Scotland
20 Ditches • List of Hillforts in England
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
List_of_hillforts_in_England
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All art and writing ©2018 Jon Hodgson, all

rights reserved. Made with love in Falkirk,
Scotland, UK.