The four criteria for assessing class importance apply to hill figures as follows:

Period (currency): Long-lived. The tradition of carving of hill figures probably started in the Iron Age and continued through to the present day, a total duration of perhaps two millennia.

Rarity: Very rare. About 32 examples are currently known, although a programme of aerial photography might reveal more which belong to the class.

Diversity (form): High. Six types have been identified on the basis of the date of the monument and the form it depicted.

Period (representativity): Low. Hill figures are one of several classes of prehistoric, medieaval, and Middle Ages and later monuments. They are quite well scattered in the south and were probably locally important monuments, judging from the period of time over which they were used.

Assigning scores to these criteria following the system set out in the Monument Evaluation Manual, hill figures yield a Class Importance Value of 42. This lies two thirds of the way up the range of possible values (max. = 64), reflecting the long currency and rarity of the class. Examples representing the main types, a range of locations and those not yet disturbed should be included in the sample of nationally important sites.