Castle Hill is a hill in Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, located in the Castle

Castle, Cambridge

Castle is a district and electoral ward of the city of Cambridge, England. It is named after the former Cambridge Castle which once stood on Castle Mound....

 ward of the city. Cambridgeshire County Council's headquarters, Shire Hall, are located directly adjacent to Castle Hill.

History

The hill is the site of the original settlement, north of the River Cam

River Cam

The River Cam is a tributary of the River Great Ouse in the east of England. The two rivers join to the south of Ely at Pope's Corner. The Great Ouse connects the Cam to England's canal system and to the North Sea at King's Lynn...

. There is evidence of pre-Roman

Roman Britain

Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...

 activity, but the Romans created a town called Duroliponte

Duroliponte

Duroliponte was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Cambridge, located in the English county of Cambridgeshire.The site of Roman Cambridge is located on Castle Hill, just northwest of the city centre...

 here. It was a convenient place to cross the river. At the time it was at the head of the navigational part of the river, then known as the River Granta. St Peter's Church, located halfway up the hill, has some pieces of Roman tile in its walls.

In the Anglo Saxon period, the hill was used for defence. In 1068, the Normans

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 built Cambridge Castle

Cambridge Castle

Cambridge Castle, locally also known as Castle Mound, is located in the town of the same name in Cambridgeshire, England. Originally built after the Norman conquest to control the strategically important route to the north of England, it played a role in the conflicts of the Anarchy, the First and...

 on the hill. The castle is no longer extant; only Castle Mound remains.

See also

• Castle Street
  Castle Street, Cambridge
  Castle Street is a street in the north of central Cambridge, England. To the southeast is a junction with Northampton Street, Magdalene Street, and Chesterton Lane...
  
  , southwest of Castle Hill
• Honey Hill
  Honey Hill
  Honey Hill is a hill in the city of Cambridge, England. It is located southwest of Castle Hill on the other side of Castle Street. To the south is Northampton Street.Honey Hill Mews is now located here....
  
  , also to the southwest