The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Ruborough Camp

Hillfort

Folklore

This fort makes use of a natural triangle-shaped promontory of the east Quantocks. Today it is swathed in trees and doesn't look very accessible. But it does come with some creative folklore (as recorded by Grinsell, in his 'Folklore of Prehistoric Sites in Britain'). His source was from 1857 and gave the following fairy-tale like details:
The fort is said to conceal an iron castle, which is guarded by gnomes and spirits (gnomes aren't very British, surely?). They're closely guarding their treasure – mounds of silver and gold. Now, they're tricky and it'll be impossible to even see them, let alone their treasure – unless you follow this prescription. You must dig for the iron gateway into the castle at noon, and be sure you dig in silence. I'm afraid there's no guidance about what to do when the angry gnomes and spirits turn up. Still, some people must have had some luck – Grinsell also mentions that a nearby field is called 'Moneyfield' because of the coins that have supposedly been found there.
There is also supposed to be one of those mysterious underground passages in the hill – the EH record on MAGIC mentions an 1890 source saying that 'a subterranean passage, 100 yards long, now
filled in, gave the occupants of the camp access to a spring of water on the side of the hill'.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
6th September 2004ce

Comments (0)

You must be logged in to add a comment