Prestonbury Castle (fort)

Prestonbury Castle is an Iron Age hillfort whose defensive banks and ditches remain remarkably legible across the open moor. Built to command the landscape, its position on a natural ridge makes it one of Dartmoor's most strategically sited fortifications—a reminder that this high moorland was once densely inhabited and fiercely contested.

Walking the perimeter, you can trace the settlement's outline against the rolling terrain and gaze across moorland much as its Iron Age inhabitants did. There's little drama in the archaeology itself, but the fort's integration with the moorland topography speaks volumes about how people once lived and organised themselves on this demanding upland.