Welcome to the Crickley Hill online archive. The excavation of Crickley Hill, on the Cotswold scarp near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire was one of the largest and longest-running excavations in the UK. Running from 1969 to 1993, considerable parts of the site were excavated during the summer seasons. Work on the huge amount of resulting excavation material is still underway. The excavation, and subsequent research, are managed by the Crickley Hill Archaeological Trust.


For the first time, this website provides online access to as much as possible of the considerable excavation record. You can now see photos and browse scans of the excavation records, and see what lay beneath the surface at this important site.


24th January 2025: The trust is delighted to announce the publication of Volume 3 of the excavation report. This covers the Long Mound, the related Cairn, the Sacred Circle and Shrine, and also the Short Mound. At 340 pages long, this is the result of many years of work by Dave Hollos (on the Long Mound and Cairn) and Nicky Snashall (on the shrine), all brought together by Professor Dixon’s excellent analysis, photographs and drawings. On sale now at £25 from the publications page here.

An overview the site, including a photographic tour and introductory videos can be seen here.


To start using the archive go here.


What’s in the archive is described here.


You can contact the Crickley Hill Archaeological Trust, and make donations to their work here.


You can buy copies of the various excavation publications here.

Copyright (c) The Crickley Archaeological Hill Trust 1969-2021. The right to use, copy, distribute or otherwise disseminate this material is reserved to those specifically authorised by The Trust.

The Crickley Hill Excavation Archive

Visit the site

Crickley Hill is in the Cotswolds, in the UK, near Cheltenham and is open to the public.

The main part of the site is managed by the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. Visit their site for details here.

The National Trust owns the Southern part of the site. Visit their site for details here.

Recent updates

November 2024 - A revision of the text on the site to reflect the conclusions of the forthcoming report on the Long Mound (Excavation report Volume 3, currently in press) and the new dates for Period 4 of the site, long assumed to be post-Roman or Dark Age, but now known to be Late Iron Age, perhaps 150-200BC.


January 2025 - Excavation Report Volume 3 - The Long Mound Valley is now published! This can be ordered from the publications page here.

The online archive of the Crickley Hill excavations was created by Steve Vaughan and generously supported by grants from

the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeology Society and the Frocester Fund.