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England
Bredon Hill
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Sites in this group:
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1 post
Conderton Camp Hillfort |
9 posts
Kemerton Camp Hillfort |
2 posts
King and Queen Stone Natural Rock Feature |
Sites of disputed antiquity:
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7 posts
Bambury Stone Natural Rock Feature |
1 post
St Katherine's Well Sacred Well |
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Fieldnotes |
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Bredon Hill ... what a strange and magical place. For a year in 1988/89 I lived in a farm cottage on its lower slopes, right underneath Kemerton Camp. I remember lying in bed at night listening to a strange unidentified hooting creature flying very slowly over the roof. Freaked the living daylights out of me. But it was a wonderful place to live. Great place for sun worship. The hill is covered with relics of ancient activity, including two separate forts. Kemerton Camp is the largest, occupying the highest point of the hill on the north side, and making the most of a steep natural escarpment. The short stone tower on the top, known as Parsons Folly, dates from the late 18th century and was allegedly built to bring the height of the hill up to a round 1000ft, its natural height being 960ft. The slopes below the escarpment are covered in lumps and bumps, some of which are the foundations of an ancient village and some the remains of quarrying, and it's hard to tell them apart. According to my former next-door neighbour, a local farm worker, the village of Nafford was originally located up here but was abandoned and later rebuilt further down the valley next to the River Avon. Among the bumps is the outline of a small rectangular building ... a medieval pilgrim's chapel very close to the unassuming but still rather special St Catherine's Well. Conderton Camp, on the SE side of the hill, is much smaller and quite secluded ... possibly a peace-time settlement because it's less obviously defended and has a very different feel to the larger fort. There's also an earthwork on the lower NE slopes of the hill just outside the village of Elmley Castle. Slightly less ancient, but really well worth a visit, are some of the 11th and 12th century carvings in the village churches around the hill. Most spectacular is Beckford parish church, which has carvings on its chancel arch of a creature with antennae that looks like an alien. In a more mundane style the porch at Elmley Castle has a really groovy rabbit. |
Posted by Rebsie25th April 2006ce |
Folklore |
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About the beginning of the last century, a hillock on the side of the hill, containing about an acre, with its trees and cattle, slipped nearly 100 yards down.There have been lots of landslips here, fair enough. But surely "with its trees and cattle" conjures up some great images and the start of some tall tales. |
Posted by Rhiannon14th February 2008ce |
Weather folklore for the hill: The following is a Worcestershire saying:p292 in Choice Notes from Notes and Queries - Folklore (1859). |
Posted by Rhiannon 27th February 2007ce |
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from Benedict's Pool by Fred Archer "Behind the monastery at the foot of Bredon Hill, enclosed by two copices, lies Benedict's Pool. Few villagers fish from the dark pond, nor will they visit it on moonlit nights, for it is said to be haunted by a mysterious lady in white. You can see the fortifications of an Iron Age camp on the summit; Roman coins and pottery have been turned up by the plough; and remains of mutilated skeletons found - evidence of a bloody battle before the Roman invasion. The spirits of the ancient soldiers - Briton, Roman and Saxon - are thought to live on in the beech trees, and the sound of men marching has been heard from under the soil." |
Posted by Rhiannon 25th July 2002ce Edited 26th April 2006ce |
The 'Beast of Bredon'. Described as a large black cat, this animal has been sighted by many local people, mostly at the eastern end of the hill. The story about this beast first broke on the 21st April 1995 when a Mr. Watkins of Ashton-under-Hill found some large paw prints in the mud near his home. This claim was accompanied by both photographs of the prints and supporting testimony of one Mr. Figgett from Tewkesbury. He said that he saw the animal going through a hedge near the Westmancote turning between Bredon and Kemerton. Sightings elsewhere included that of the 24th April when the Gloucestershire Echo reported another sighting in Cirencester. By May 1995 reports of big cats in Gloucestershire and surrounding areas had reached the point where the Ministry of Agriculture had drafted in a tracker hound to try to locate one of the animals. Sightings of the black beast have far from diminished in the last four years. Many serious attempts have been made across Britain to catch one of these animals, mostly in the south-west of England, but none have proved successful as yet. The Beast of Bredon has had a serious effect on some locals. A Worcester lady I spoke to recently says that ever since she saw the 'beast' on Bredon Hill she has been concerned when out walking. This big cat is one of Bredon's more modern and tangible mysteries. Excerpt from Bredon Hill, by Brian Hoggard |
Posted by Rhiannon 25th July 2002ce Edited 26th April 2006ce |
Miscellaneous |
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Here's a strange story from Bredon Hill. I like the way it finishes with "it is said that a strong sulphurous odour was perceived" - kind of geological, but hinting at the unusual and possibly devilish origins of the phenomenon, perhaps?!About half past five in the afternoon of Thursday, the 3d of May 1849, during a storm of thunder, lightning and hail, an enormous body of water was seen to rush down a gully in the Bredon Hill, and direct its course to the village of Kemerton. The stream was broad and impetuous, carrying everything before it. Its extraordinary force and body of water may be judged from the fact, that, on reaching the residence of the Rev. W. H. Bellairs, of kemerton, it broke down a stone wall which surrounded the garden, burst through the foundation of another, made a way for itself through the dwelling-house, and then carried off a third wall of brick, six feet high. The garden soil was washed away, and "enormous blocks of stone," and debris from the hill left in its place. By this time the current was considerably broken; nevertheless, it flowed through the house, to the depth of nearly three feet, for the space of an hour and forty minutes. The neighbouring railway was so deeply flooded as to delay the express train, by extinguishing the fire of the engine.The Rev. went up for a look on Saturday, and seemed to find that a waterspout had dumped its water on the north-west shoulder of the hill, not even the top, as he couldn't find much damage there? A five acre barley field had been totally flattened. The water hadn't spread out as it had rushed down the hill, it had stayed in the gully, and he claimed that "the general depth of the torrent was from six to seven feet." Bizarre and scary. From p182 of The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal (1850). |
Posted by Rhiannon 29th April 2007ce Edited 29th April 2007ce |
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Worcestershire History EncyclopaediaLiam Rogers gives a account of the hill's forts and archaeology as part of his article about the village of Beckford, which nestles at the base of the hill. |
Posted by Rhiannon 25th July 2002ce Edited 14th February 2006ce |
Latest posts for Bredon Hill |
Showing 1-10 of 20 posts. Most recent first | Next 10 
Kemerton Camp (Hillfort) — Images (click to view fullsize) |
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Posted by thesweetcheat11th February 2009ce |
Bambury Stone (Natural Rock Feature) — Images |
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Posted by thesweetcheat 11th February 2009ce |
Bambury Stone (Natural Rock Feature) — Miscellaneous |
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Description of the stone from "On The Ancient British, Roman, and Saxon Antiquities and Folk-Lore of Worcestershire" 2nd ed - Jabez Allies (1852): "It is situated a little within the entrance of an oblong basin or amphitheatre, near the western focus of the ellipse, and is about twenty yards in circumference, four yards high, and nearly flat at the top. The basin resembles a dry dock, with its entrance upon the verge of the precipice of the hill, and is about two hundred yards in circumference. The stone, at several miles distance, looks something like the hull of a ship coming out of dock. I have no doubt that this basin is artificial, and that the earth and stones excavated were applied towards forming the inner agger of the camp, which is high and wide, and would take more materials in the making than could be obtained out of the vallum or trench. The stone is a mass of inferior oolite, the same as the rest of the hill, and no doubt was denuded upon the basin being dug, and most probably was preserved for an altar stone*. At the distance of about six yards before it, westward, nearer the precipice, there is another stone about eleven yards in circumference, and two yards above the surface; and about sixteen yards further westward, at the precipice, is a third stone, about ten yards in circumference,and two yards high. The former of these two stones was probably disturbed at the time of the excavation, as the stratification is nearly vertical, and the other appears to have been moved to the very edge of the (down which it seems on the point of rolling into Worcestershire), or the earth has, in the course of ages, fallen away from it down the precipice, and left it upon the brink. There is also another stone, behind and to the east of the Bambury stone, which measures about eight yards in circumference. All these stones are nearly in line with each other, and stand in an easterly and westerly direction; the one on the brink, stands on or near the site of the ancient granary.**" *Mr Allies is keen on Druids. **See miscellaneous entry under Kemerton Camp. |
Posted by thesweetcheat 11th February 2009ce |
Bambury Stone (Natural Rock Feature) — Folklore |
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In"On The Ancient British, Roman, and Saxon Antiquities and Folk-Lore of Worcestershire" 2nd ed (1852), Jabez Allies includes an entire chapter on the stone, including entymology of the name and a woodcut. He refers to a reference to the site in Laird's "Topographical and Historical Description of Worcestershire" (1814), which gives the opinion: "Near the Prospect House, is Bramsbury Stone, an immense mass of rock, but of which there is no traditionary account; and which is, most likely, merely a natural production, without any reference to ancient events." It is shown on Dr Nash's plan of the camp (1781) and on Greenwood's map (1820). Allies gives a full description of the stone, which also mentions a line of other stones, nearly aligned with the Bambury Stone (as shown in his woodcut). He concludes the chapter as follows: "From all that has been said, and considering that Ambreley, Amberley, Ambresbury, and Ambury [as in Croft Ambrey ], are common names of old earth works all over the kingdom, it appears more than probable that Amber Stones stood at such places in primitive times, which gave the names thereto; and that the Banbury or Bambury Stone or Rock in Kemerton Camp, otherwise Bambury Camp, on the top of Bredon Hill, was one of these Ambrosiae Petrae, or Amber Stones, dedicated to the Sun by the Celtic Druids, either in imitation or independently of the form of worship of the Amonians, Phoenecians, or Tyrians. This would, if so, tend to confirm my idea that the Kemerton Camp is ancient British, although afterwards occupied by the Romans, Saxons, and Danes." Not sure if any of this helps the question of "disputed antiquity" in any way shape or form! |
Posted by thesweetcheat 11th February 2009ce |
Conderton Camp (Hillfort) — Miscellaneous |
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Dr. Treadway Russell Nash - "Collections for the History of Worcestershire" (1781): "On Conderton Hill is a small oval camp, one hundred and sixty-five yards long, and seventy-one yards wide: tradition, which is better than conjecture*, supposes it to be Danish. Some few Roman coins have been found in the fields." *Although presumably facts are better still than tradtion? |
Posted by thesweetcheat 11th February 2009ce |
Kemerton Camp (Hillfort) — Miscellaneous |
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From "On The Ancient British, Roman, and Saxon Antiquities and Folk-Lore of Worcestershire" 2nd ed - Jabez Allies (1852): "At a land-slip at the top of Bredon Hill, which happened at the beginning of the present century*, a considerable quantity of wheat, of a parched appearance, and which had been buried in the earth, was discovered. This is supposed to have been an ancient granary, but of what people is uncertain. A specimen of the wheat was presented to the Worcester Museum by Mrs. Davies, of Elmley Park. Wishing to know the particulars, I wrote to Mr. William Prior, of Kemerton, who, in reply, informed me that about thirty-five or forty years ago, after a very wet season, as the late Miss Martin, of Norton, was riding along the parapet on the top of Bredon Hill, in the field called Kemerton Camp, her horse began to sink in the ground suddenly and rapidly; that however she kept her seat, and the horse, which had gone down about four or five feet below the level of the firm ground, sprang up and regained his footing. That so soon as Miss Martin had recovered from her surprise, she saw that a land-slip had occurred, and that she had landed on the firm side of the chasm, which at that time opened about thirty feet wide at the surface and about forty feet deep**; but that it is since partially filled up by the crumbling down of the sides. That he was at the house of the late James Martin, Esq. of Overbury, some few weeks afterwards, when a portion of the parched wheat, found in the excavation, wa shown to him and some other gentlemen, and the general opinion was, that it was part of the stores left behind by the Romans, Saxons or Danes, at the time when they were there encamped. *About the beginning of the last century, a hillock on the side of the hill, containing about an acre, with its trees and cattle, slipped nearly 100 yards down. **Some say the chasm was about 200 yards long." Inevitably there is a lengthy discussion on when and how the wheat came to be there, with far too many commas and the names of various local gentry Mr Allies spoke to. He concludes: "Perhaps the best answer to the above is, that the ancient Britons parched their corn before placing it in subterranean granaries for long keeping*.; but whether it was parched in the ear and then thrashed out, or parched after it was thrashed, may be a question. ..... *Similar subterranean granaries are mentioned by Tacitus in his account of the customs of the Germans." Indeed. As a postscript, deposits of Iron Age wheat have been found on Bredon Hill during modern excavations, for example in association with infant burial in a post hole during a 1937 excavation ("The Excavation of the Iron Age Camp on Bredon Hill, Gloucestershire, 1935-1937" - T. Hencken). |
Posted by thesweetcheat 11th February 2009ce |
Kemerton Camp (Hillfort) — Images |
  
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Posted by thesweetcheat 21st December 2008ce |
Bambury Stone (Natural Rock Feature) — Folklore |
| In Harold T. Wilkins' book Mysteries Solved & Unsolved he suggests that the stones name is derived from Ambrosie petrie the annointed stone. Meanwhile Doreen Valiente states that another possible origin of the name is from the Latin word ambire meaning to go round and that the stone was danced around. Both authors mention the stone was a focus for witchcraft ceremonies in centuries past. |
Posted by stubob8th November 2008ce |
Showing 1-10 of 20 posts. Most recent first | Next 10
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