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

England   Southern England   Somerset  

The Quantocks

See individual sites for details

Added by TMA Ed


Discussion Topics0 discussions
Start a topic



Show  |  Hide
Web searches for Quantocks

Sites in this group:

7 posts
Battlegore Barrow Cemetery
2 posts
Bleary Pate Round Barrow(s)
4 posts
Dowsborough Hillfort
2 posts
The Long Stone Standing Stone / Menhir
2 posts
Norton Camp (Somerset) Hillfort
1 post
Ruborough Camp Hillfort
1 post
Trendle Ring Hillfort
1 post
Weacombe Hill Round Barrow(s)
11 posts
Wick Barrow Round Barrow(s)
1 post
Wills Neck Round Barrow(s)

News

Add news Add news
County Council Plans to sell part of Quantocks

Don't know the area myself but thought I'd post this in case other folk were interesting. Don't know if it would effect access to the old stuff round there

38 Degrees petiton

more info
thelonious Posted by thelonious
13th February 2012ce
Edited 13th February 2012ce

Archaeology from Hilltop to Coastline


Sat 31 July 10.00 - 15.00
Fyne Court, Broomfield, Bridgwater

Minibus tour taking in key historical locations within the Quantock Hills AONB in the company of a professional archaeologist and Senior Ranger.

Quantock Hills AONB - 01823 451884
quantockhills@somerset.gov.uk
continues...
Chance Posted by Chance
5th July 2010ce
Edited 5th July 2010ce

Links

Add a link Add a link

The Quantock Hills - AONB


Offical website for the area detailing news, events and wildlife along with where to stay and eat
Chance Posted by Chance
10th July 2010ce

Latest posts for the Quantocks

Showing 1-10 of 32 posts. Most recent first | Next 10

Battlegore (Barrow Cemetery) — Folklore

A mile inland, close to Wiliton, is a field, or rather several fields, known as Battlegore, traditionally, as its name implies, the scene of a battle. In them are the remains of three large mounds, though one is now ploughed nearly level with the field, and another has been reduced by one-half by a hedgerow. The largest is close to the road.

From time immemorial the tale has been handed down that here the Danes fought with the Wessex men. A tradition, also unfortunately dating from time immemorial, states that much armour and many weapons have been discovered in these fields. But who found them, and what became of them, is as unknown as their period and fashion. The only weapon taken from the spot that I have seen is a remarkably fine bronze celt which would go some way to show that it was a British rather than a Danish battleground.

Collinson refers to 'several cells composed of flat stones, and containing relics,' as having been found in these tumuli, to which he gives the name of Grab-barrows. From this it would appear that they were chambered tumuli. I venture to think, however, that he is mistaken, except perhaps with regard to the mound now nearly levelled, inasmuch as neither of the existing barrows have been properly explored.

Close to the barrow near the road are two enormous stones, the one lying on its side, the other leaning against the hedge, as well as a third and smaller block, nearly concealed by brambles. As there are no similar blocks in the vicinity, they must have been brought here for some definite purpose, perhaps to mark the grave of some notable chieftain. Or, perchance, they are, as certain antiquaries opine, the supports of a British cromlech. The local story is that they were cast there from the Quantocks by the devil and a giant, who had engaged in a throwing match. The print of Satan's hand still marks the leaning stone.

This stone was upright some forty or fifty years since. It was toppled against the hedge by some young men anxious to test the truth of the legend that it was immovable.
From'An exploration of Exmoor and the hill country of West Somerset' by John Lloyd Warden Page (1890).
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
30th December 2011ce

Battlegore (Barrow Cemetery) — Fieldnotes

Visited 19.7.11
One of those sites where I pulled up and realised I had been here before!
This time however the grass was low so it was easier to see the Barrow marked on the O/S map. The Barrow is visible from the field gate next to the large lay by.
It is approximately 1 metre high x 20 metres wide.
I disturbed a rabbit whilst walking across the field.

The site no longer appears to be a 'nature reserve'.
Posted by CARL
26th July 2011ce

Bleary Pate (Round Barrow(s)) — Fieldnotes

'Visited' 19.7.11
More to the point – failed to visit.

I first tried to access the site from the minor road to the north which leads to Doniford.
It was easy enough to park but despite walking through a couple of fields I couldn't get anywhere near the Barrow due to the overgrown hedges and fences.
I then attempted an approach from the south but again there was no way through the hedgerow. Perhaps there is access from the west near Rydon Farm?
Posted by CARL
26th July 2011ce

Wick Barrow (Round Barrow(s)) — Fieldnotes

Visited 19.7.11
I drove along the well maintained minor road north of the village of Shurton (Not signposted Hinkley Point power station - merely: Dead End)
Fortunately the first security barrier was open with no guard on duty. This allowed me to (somewhat nervously) drive through and the Barrow could be easily seen on the right of the road – behind the high security fencing).
I continued to drive forward to look for somewhere to turn around and saw a second barrier which was manned. Luckily there was a place to turn around and I drove slowly back out of the power station.
As I say, the Barrow is easy enough to see and looked to be about 2 metres high and 20 metres across. Two small trees were growing out of its side. Not a place to hang around too long.
A nuclear power station next to a Bronze Age Barrow – how is that for a clash of cultures!
Posted by CARL
26th July 2011ce

Battlegore (Barrow Cemetery) — Fieldnotes

Visited 3.7.10
Very easy to visit. Opposite Danefield school on the B3191 is a large layby (presumably for parents to park whilst doing the school run?). Next to the parking area is a metal field gate. The barrow can be seen easily from this gate. Quite a large diameter (10 metres?) but only about 1 metre high. The grass in the field was waist high with plenty of nettles. I couldn't see any other barrows in the surrounding fields - possibly due to the height of the grass? The O/S map only shows one barrow. There is a sign on the gate stating 'no public access - nature reserve'.
Posted by CARL
5th July 2010ce

Wick Barrow (Round Barrow(s)) — Fieldnotes

[visted 08/07/07] Another failed site, this time through not wanting to turn up unanounced at a Nuclear Power Station and asking to see their barrow. I did get to the gates and could see the barrow just inside the gates in a fenced off tree covered enclosure, but it was the other side of some (open) security gates and a large barbed wire fence. Call me overly cautious but in the current climate I figured discretion really was the better part of valour. There is a number for them on the British Energy website so I might give them a ring next time I'm heading that way.

Access is after sundown wearing ninja suits and night goggles.
juamei Posted by juamei
9th July 2007ce

The Long Stone (Standing Stone / Menhir) — Fieldnotes

[visted 08/07/07] I have been a sucker for any rock art in wessexish ever since I saw a lot up north a few years back. It is however very rare about these parts and so I headed over to see this without high hopes. Sadly I completely failed to find a cup on this otherwise purty little stone. There are a couple of small depressions, but nothing I could positively say had been created by man.

Moving on, this somewhat misnamed stone comes up to about waist height nowadays and reminded me of the West Anstey Longstone. It is an absolute peach of a location overlooking the Bristol Chanel, Wales clearly visible in the distance. Also clearly visible is Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station, or as we like to think, the Pixies Mound. Can't really say about the orientation though as it was re-erected in the 60s.

Access is for the fitish but is all footpaths and would be doable in a wheelchair that could handle reasonably rough ground and steep slopes. Feeling energetic I made it up there in 25 mins, about a third at a slow run, and back down in 15mins, running mostly. Walking would prolly take 30 mins mostly all up hill. The effort to reward ratio is quite high on this one!
juamei Posted by juamei
9th July 2007ce

Wick Barrow (Round Barrow(s)) — Folklore

More from 'Local Traditions of the Quantocks' by C. W. Whistler
(in Folklore, Vol. 19, No. 1. (Mar. 30, 1908), pp. 31-51.), which I seem to have overlooked. Must have been the Pixy Effect.
The Pixy legends of the district are of no unusual type. Belief in "Pixy leading" is general, and only a few years since a woman, lost in a sudden evening mist within a few minutes walk across the fields from her house, and unable to regain the pathway or find the stile, became actually demented from terror, firmly believing that she was "Pixy led." The legends have one special centre round a large mound on the Wick "moor", exploration of which has this year yielded some very remarkable results. The mound is about ninety feet across by eleven feet high, mainly composed of stones, and it was said to move bodily about the field in whose centre it stands.
Barrows moving about? How very unusual. But I do refer you to Grinsell's cautious remarks below.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
16th December 2006ce

Grinsell mentions the story of the broken peel (see below) in his 'Archaeology of Exmoor' (1970). He says that similar stories have been recorded in England - at Beedon Barrow for example, but that it has 'a Scandinavian flavour'. "Miss R.L. Tongue has mentioned another Scandinavian motif (the theft of a gold cup from the fairies) from the Quantock Hills, although apparently not connected with any barrow."
One final point needs to be added. The Wick Barrow tradition seems to have been first recorded for that site by Rev C. W. Whistler, Rector of Stockland Bristol from 1895 to 1909; he was also an energetic member of the Viking Society of Great Britain and Ireland, for which he was secretary for the Bridgwater area. Because of this the present writer just wonders how vivid his imagination was.
He thought Miss Tongue was quite imaginative too, I believe.

Oh how I would have loved to meet Mr Grinsell. He collects all this folklore but he is such a cynic. I'd like to think we would have got on well.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
11th December 2006ce
Edited 12th December 2006ce

Dowsborough (Hillfort) — Folklore

Local memory has it that "men from Dowsborough beat down men from Stowey Castle, and the men from Stowey beat down Stogursey Castle".

[..]

..The great hill-camp of Danesborough is practically the central point of our district, and it is a usual saying with us that a Quantock man never cares to be out of sight of "Dowsboro' pole." [..] I have already mentioned the tradition that at Danesborough there was a massacre of "the Danes," and though it is not likely that those marauders ever reached the camp, no doubt some such slaughter did take place there, possibly in the invasion of Kentwine. But it is said that the old warriors are still living within the hill, and that at midnight their songs and merriment as they feast may be heard.

[..]

From Danesborough runs eastward the ancient trackway to the Cannington, or Combwich, fort and the tidal ford. And along this route the "Wild Hunt" still passes overhead, coming from the river to the hills. The belief of the hunt is strong with us, but I have never heard that its passing is held to portend anything special, as in the north.
Local Traditions of the Quantocks
C. W. Whistler
Folklore, Vol. 19, No. 1. (Mar. 30, 1908), pp. 31-51.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
7th October 2006ce
Edited 25th November 2006ce
Showing 1-10 of 32 posts. Most recent first | Next 10