Shipton Hill

I finally decided to see what’s at the top of the hill. It looks impossibly steep to climb and it is from most directions. However if you park on the western side just above Hammiton farm only the last 20 yards or so are steep.
The views from the hill are panoramic. I could see at least four hillforts from the top, namely Eggardon to the north east, Chilcombe to the east, Abbotsbury castle to the south east and Pilsdon Pen to the north west.
Also to the south west is Golden Cap, Colmer’s Hill and Hardown Hill are to the west and I think I could see both Lambert’s Castle and Coneys Castle to the north west as well.
I’m not sure this is a hillfort in the sense of there being any defensive banks or ditches, of which I could see no evidence. Having said that I’m not sure these would be neccesary as this would be an ideal refuge without any obvious banks etc. It is easy to see any approach to the hill from any direction.
There are some curious looking banks and ditches below the main hill which could wel have been the site of a settlement.
Grinsell thought there was a low barrow on the hill, the only place I could see that could be a barrow is the site of an O.S. trig point. It is indistinct and would have been disturbed by the building of the trig point anyway. I suspect also that the site was used during WW2 as an observation post, there was some brick work up there and what looked like a small chimney stack in the field below the hill.