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Castle Hill (Broad Blunsdon)

Hillfort

Fieldnotes

I took a wander up to Castle Hill at Broad Blunsdon this morning. A very easy walk up a single track road called Burytown Lane which leads to Upper Burytown Farm. I had been unaware of this hillfort until I heard recently that the farmer wants to fence off the 'right of way' ... at least I think it is a right of way. There are two notices at the gate into the hillfort; one says "bull in field" the other indicates by a dotted line the path across the hillfort with the emphatic statement that there is no permissive circular path around the fort.

There is a superb view to the north and on this beautiful sunny morning it did look impressive. The hillfort has open access to a herd of pedigree cattle though today they had congregated in a lower field. I understand the farmer wants to fence the path off so that the cattle are not harrassed by dogs not on leads. Its quite hard to visualise a hillfort with a fence across the middle, even one as relatively low profile such as this one.

Another sign of the times, I noticed on my walk back down that the attractive village church has had a load of its roof tiles nicked. Sigh!
tjj Posted by tjj
28th June 2010ce
Edited 28th June 2010ce

Comments (2)

A couple of relevant sites re bulls in fields crossed by RoWs:

(NB: second link doesn't mention CROW 2000, but is probably still largely accurate)

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/ais17ew.pdf

http://www.livestock-sales.co.uk/news/04_oct/bulls.html
thesweetcheat Posted by thesweetcheat
28th June 2010ce
Thanks for that tsc; we haven't had the 'cows in the field' thread back yet. After my stroll in Blunsdon yesterday I did a circular re-walk starting from Bishopstone, along the Ridgeway towards Waylands Smithy. In one field a large cow came towards me and my walking companion, bellowing loudly. I was a bit freaked but fortunately my friend strode foward ignoring it completely; I think the cow thought we had come to take her in for milking.

I'm probably wittering now so I'll shut up and just say thanks again.
tjj Posted by tjj
29th June 2010ce
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