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England
Barbury CastleHillfort
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Round house to be built at Barbury http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/5114602.stm "Construction work begins on Monday and volunteers are invited to help and also learn about archaeological theory on roundhouse design. Throughout the building work, which is due to be completed by the end of July, there will be a series of walks and talks for families, schools and colleges to find out more about the project." |
Posted by Rhiannon26th June 2006ce |
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A few sad notes about the roundhouse erected in July 06.... Vandals have pushed out two sections of the painted wattle and daub walls and have pulled out chunks of the thatch. It would be interesting to know where they got the inspiration/source for the carvings and painting from. Decorated bowls perhaps? Jim. |
Posted by jimit1st November 2007ce |
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Time was now stretching on and we decided to try and get a bite to eat. Our next destination was to be the hill fort at Barbury Castle, an area which is now a country park. Upon arriving our delight was assured by the presence of a café which sold full English breakfasts. We were not the only people there, the area seemed to be popular with dog walkers and families. The area has been settled for many years probably due to its dominant position overlooked everything it surveys. Bronze age disc barrows have been discovered at the site as well as later Iron age burials. Legend has it also that the site was the scene of a great battle between the Saxons and the celts in around 550CE. A battle, which, may have gone a long way to the establishment of the kingdom of Wessex. This post appears as part of the weblog entry From Marlborough to Marden, walking in the footsteps of the ancients
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Posted by notjamesbond19th April 2004ce |
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Bless. My boyfriend chose this spot off the OS map himself as somewhere to take me. Although you seem to travel for miles down a dead-end road to get to it it's not exactly one of those isolated sites - in fact it's part of a country park so it's got quite a big car park, but you can get away from other visitors nonetheless, and it was really peaceful. It's so easy to get to and would be ideal for anyone with mobility problems / prams etc - you can drive up onto the ridge (the edge of the Marlborough downs), park your car, and walk along the level Ridgeway to the hillfort. Barbury Castle is surrounded by two impressive banks and ditches (more in some places) and has 360 degree views. The castle's iron age, but there are bronze age bowl barrows and even a disc barrow nearby, which maybe I'll get back to some time. The site is on chalk grassland so there are lots of chalk loving plants and the butterflies they're associated with. Sarsens were used around the two entrances, and you can see some of them poking through the soil. A farm near the carpark has a little outdoor cafe selling food and drinks which I was very grateful for at the time - all this is the opposite end of the ridge to the hillfort and it's fine, don't be put off by thinking the place has been 'countryparkified'. |
Posted by Rhiannon 3rd September 2002ce |
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I do think the reuse of sites is interesting. Iron Age people built the huge fort up here for defence, and in World War 2 the US Air Force appropriated the site for their anti-aircraft guns - so, it was still being used for defence millennia later. Just so as you know if you visit - these were apparently where the hollows are around the edge of the fort interior. Possibly more interesting (but invisible) would be the traces of 40 hut circles found using geophysics inside the castle in 1996. (WANHM excavation notes, vol93) |
Posted by Rhiannon 5th November 2004ce Edited 5th November 2004ce |
| With such good views of the surrounding flat farmland - what a surprise - crop circles have frequently 'appeared' around Barbury Castle, and there was one visible when we visited. Definitely aliens if you ask me. |
Posted by Rhiannon 3rd September 2002ce |
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Representative Poetry OnlineThe WW1 poet Charles Hamilton Sorley (only 20 when he died) wrote this poem about Barbury Castle. |
Posted by Rhiannon 4th October 2005ce Edited 26th June 2006ce |
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