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British CampHillfort
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9 posts
Waum's Well Sacred Well |
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Near Squeak For British CampHow the powers of avarice move unseen . . . hadn't realised that the British Camp had been under threat from the Coca-Cola conglomerate; happily the Environment Agency and English Nature have prevented them from destoying the Malverns (so far). Interestingly, they were attempting to use a Celtic well for extended production . . ... continues... |
Posted by treaclechops31st December 2004ce |
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Got off the train at Colwall (4.7.09) had a quick look at Colwall Stone - humph. This amazing hilltop towers above the village. When I first saw it from the station, I must admit to being rather overawed. After a fair walk south, coming up on to the Malverns at Hangmans Hill and approaching along Shire Ditch, this is a terrific structure. Certainly one of the most impressive hillforts I have visited. It stands, devoid of any covering vegetation (except grass) with amazing views in all directions, only the continuing ridge of the Malverns to the north being any match in height. It was a warm sunny day, but this must be a cold, exposed place in the winter months. The original site was the central core of the fort as it is today, which has been further altered by having a motte built on it (sometimes referred to as "The Citadel"). The ramparts to the south and off at an angle to the north-east were added later to increase the interior area to about 12 hectares. That such a vast structure was constructed using primitive picks and moving the earth by hand is staggering. The rock of the Malverns is an iron-hard, igneous type, which would present a challenge even to modern digging equipment. An interesting cave sits slightly to the south of the fort, supposedly the cave lived in by the giant associated with Colwall Stone. Just as the stone is not that impressive, he must have been a pretty small giant to live in this cave! |
Posted by thesweetcheat3rd August 2009ce Edited 3rd August 2009ce |
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The British Camp has to be one of the first ancient monuments I can remember being taken to see as a child. I have very clear memories of playing with my sister on the side of the ramparts on a hot summer's day, and can still visualise rolling down the grassy slopes. I think I was pretending to be a medieval archer, as my brain wasn't able to compute anything much before the 13thC BCE timewise. I do remember feeling that it was an utterly awesome place, and very special. I believe I was about 14 yrs old, and hadn't yet become obsessed with things megalithic. I recall wondering why the British camped there when they had the whole of the country to camp in, and wondered how long ago they camped in the place, in what sort of tents, and why would they camp on something with so many banks? Seriously. I was an odd child, but that won't surprise readers of this site. Nine years later, I returned for a nostalgic visit, and can well remember approaching the British Camp from the opposite end of the Malverns. I was deeply impressed with it's size and construction. Through the haze of an August afternoon, in hills covered with banks of rosebay willowherb, the ramparts of this phenomenal fort shimmered into view, huge, impressive, daunting, and glorious at the same time. We didn't quite make the fort itself on that occasion; but that view on an English summer's day, with Elgar's music in my mind (he lived in Great Malvern), will stay with me for the rest of my life. I'm surprised it hasn't been covered in fieldnotes before, so do take a day out to visit (probably mid-week, to avoid the crowds), as it is wonderful. Jane, it would be a definite subject for a painting! |
Posted by treaclechops 29th April 2004ce |
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The British Camp in The Malvern Hills is another one of our stunning 'world hills'. The view from the top is absolutely awesome. I remember once having scrambled to the top with the kids in a blue sky, crisp, clear, autumn day and looking down onto Jet Fighters as they boomed over the fields below. What would our ancestors have thought of that? Anyway, not only Elgar tramped this hillside, but also JRR Tolkien. The following is an extract from the cover notes of a recording of Tolkien, written by George Sayer. 'He and I tramped the Malvern Hills which he had often seen during his boyhood in Birmingham or from his brother's house on the other side of the Severn River Valley. He lived the book as we walked, for instance, sometimes comparing parts of the hills with the White Mountains of Gondor'. I wonder if they ever bumbed into each other, Elgar whistling away and Tolkien deep in his elvish thoughts. |
Posted by follow that cow28th December 2004ce Edited 28th December 2004ce |
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This fort is one of the traditional sites of the last stand of Caractacus, 'King of the Britons', against the invading Romans. He was also known as Caradoc. Having regrettably lost the fight he was taken with his family to Rome - but apparently not to the unpleasant fate you might imagine for him: it seems the Emperor respected his reputation and spared him. (Reader's Digest 'Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain') |
Posted by Rhiannon4th March 2004ce |
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According to Liam Rogers' article on the Malverns at http://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/malverns.htm there is a spring on the north of British Camp called Pewtress Spring*, and this is where William Langland fell asleep and received his inspiration for 'Piers Plowman' (must have been the soothing white noise). This is a long alliterative poem second only to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in medieval literature. In the first of eleven visions the narrator, called The Dreamer, similarly resting by a stream, looks down at the people below the Malvern hills and instructs them to follow a pilgrimage towards salvation and truth. You can read the first part of the poem at Representative Poetry Online http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1226.html (*now the Primeswell spring where, disappointingly, the evil empire CocaCola bottles Malvern Water from? http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1357991,00.html ) |
Posted by Rhiannon 22nd November 2005ce Edited 22nd November 2005ce |
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Multimap aerial photograph of British Camp |
Posted by morfe15th May 2006ce |
Worcestershire County CouncilAerial view of British Camp |
Posted by morfe 20th November 2005ce Edited 21st November 2005ce |
BBCi Hereford and WorcesterA 360 degree panorama from the beacon. |
Posted by Rhiannon 4th March 2004ce |
Latest posts for British Camp |
Waum's Well (Sacred Well) — Images (click to view fullsize) |
  
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Posted by thesweetcheat 6th May 2011ce |
Waum's Well (Sacred Well) — Folklore |
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Alfred Watkins heard a local tale that the large stone or 'Sacrificial Stone' was said to be "the door of the Giant's Cave thrown down." The Giant's Cave is Clutter's Cave. AKA the Hermit's Cave. How many names do these places need? Mr Watkins got a friend to recline on the stone as though he was about to be sacrificed and took a photo. He was seemingly convinced it was Suitable as it fitted the human body just right. He mentions someone else's ideas who'd been observing the sun at the Midsummer, and thought that that would have been just the moment to do the deed. Naturally he spotted a number of his leys around this area. He published the idea and photo in 'The Old Straight Track', but this link ('Republications') is more interesting because it comes with his own handwriting: http://www.cantab.net/users/michael.behrend/repubs/watkins_misc/pages/giants_cave.html |
Posted by Rhiannon 5th May 2011ce |
This is from p29 of 'Hanley Castle' by W. S. Symonds. It's a novel, but he says in his preface that he wrote it with the motive of interesting the local inhabitants in local history and traditions, so I imagine the Facts are true.Bridget now proposed that we should descend the hill to the well of St. Waum, and take a drink of the water, so good for the healing of broken hearts, sore eyes and rheumatism. I laughed at the idea, as we were both strong and healthy, but down the hill we went for the sake of St. Waum's spell and Bridget's fancy.He calls the cave above 'the Cave of Glendower, or Hermit's Cave'. http://www.archive.org/stream/hanleycastleane00symogoog#page/n48 (I visited a spring today myself, and am covered in the nettle stings to prove it). I looked up 'waum' and it rather despatches the idea of a christian saint. The OED says it meant in Old English, 'a gushing forth or upwelling of water, a spring, or the water of such' and also 'the bubbling and heaving of water etc. in the process of boiling'. Interesting! I also found this nearby stoney folklore. Clutter's cave is the same cave mentioned above. In a ravine to the south-east of the Beacon Camp and a little below Clutter's Cave, against the roots of an old crab tree, lies a huge block of syenite. This stone is called the "Divination" Stone, and has been described in ancient manuscripts as the show stone, suggesting that at one time singular religious rites were performed upon it.From 'Camps on the Malvern Hills' by F G Hilton Price, in the journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, v10, 1881. |
Posted by Rhiannon 24th April 2011ce Edited 28th April 2011ce |
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"There was once a hawthorn tree called the 'Wishing Tree' around which children danced. .... Here there was once a shelter for the use of those who came to drink or bathe in St Walm's spring water to cure their skin diseases or sore eyes or rheumatism." From "The Healing Wells of Herefordshire" - Jonathan Sant (Moondial 1994). |
Posted by thesweetcheat 3rd August 2009ce Edited 24th April 2011ce |
Waum's Well (Sacred Well) — Images |
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Posted by thesweetcheat 3rd August 2009ce |
Waum's Well (Sacred Well) — Fieldnotes |
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An ancient well that provided water for nearby British Camp, which has no internal water supply (bad news if there's a siege!). This well lies in the woods on the western slopes of the Malverns, a little below Hangmans Hill. Unfortunately the well has been tanked to provide a supply of water to Eastnor. It now resembles some kind of cross between an underground bunker and a steam locomotive. |
Posted by thesweetcheat 3rd August 2009ce |
Waum's Well (Sacred Well) — Folklore |
At the edge of the wood under the Beacon is a clear but small piece of water, called Walm's Well, once much frequented for bathing by the people of the neighbourhood, but now altogether neglected. This well, or rather bath, was formerly in estimation as a cure for cutaneous diseases; and there was a wooden hut for bathers,-- now removed.The OS map shows the well to the west and beneath Shire Ditch at SO760392. From p25 of 'Pictures of Nature in the Silurian Region Around the Malvern Hills and Vale of Severn' by Edwin Lees (1856). Online at Google Books. |
Posted by Rhiannon 28th July 2007ce Edited 24th April 2011ce |
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