This is a true 'palimpsest' of a landscape. There are a lot of bumps, and yes, some of them are bronze age barrows. But some of them are actually the remains of a bizarre scheme from WWII: an attempt to recreate the street plan of Bristol on top of a heathy hillside, to lure the bombers away from the city. You can read more on MAGIC's extract from the EH schedule: http://www.magic.gov.uk/rsm/33064.pdf
From up here you can see for miles in practically every direction, and I am sure this is where I could see from the outlying circle at Stanton Drew.
Phill Quinn's 'Holy Wells of the Bath and Bristol Region' mentions a spring below Black Down. It was / is? at ST484580, in a field called 'Hawkeswell Quoit' - so presumably it was the Hawkeswell. But what's this 'quoit'? Isn't that (bar referring to the game) a word for a standing stone? As Quinn says, it would be interesting if there was once a stone associated with the spring. Though perhaps we have got the wrong end of the stick in the pursuit of a good story.
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Posted by Rhiannon
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