|
|
 Log in |
Register
|
|
|
England
Lansdown
|
Show | |
|
|
Sites in this group:
|
7 posts
Lansdown Barrows Round Barrow(s) |
4 posts
Lansdown Camp Barrow Cemetery |
5 posts
North Stoke Hillfort |
Images (click to view fullsize) |
 Add an image |
Photographs:
Maps / Plans / Diagrams:
Artistic / Interpretive:
|
Fieldnotes |
Add fieldnotes |
| Probable barrow.. This photo was taken 4 years back, it shows large stones caught underneath a root plate of tree brought down in a storm. The trees on Kelston Hill are probably an 18th century planting, the barrow must have been flattened and the tree grew into the remains. There is evidence of stones round the hill, which only appear during the summer when the soil dries out. A mystery and not certain but perhaps it should be recorded for posterity.. Checking today 1/10/05, there is a definite bowl (the stones have since gone for walling) of about 15 foot diameter. The barrow would have sat atop of a small bank/ridge on top of the hill, which rises to the south west. Its focus or alignment is Stantonbury hill fort... |
Posted by moss30th September 2005ce Edited 15th February 2006ce |
|
Rhiannon visits all these places from my childhood, when I was unaware of any ancient history! I lived in Upper Weston, close to Lansdown, for many years and it is a beautiful area. It's also favourite dog walking territory and apologies in advance if you visit the Racecourse, Prospect Stile, or Kelston Round Hill areas and you come across 4 mad pointers bombing around thinking they are tough - that will be my mother's dogs! One ex-dog has his ashes scattered on the Round Hill as it was his favourite area. I've found some old photos of the area. On a very fine day the original Severn Bridge can be seen (not checked more recently for the newer one) as can the Welsh hills in the background. |
Posted by pure joy1st March 2003ce Edited 15th February 2006ce |
Miscellaneous |
Add miscellaneous |
|
Sun Discs; http://northstoke.blogspot.com/2008/02/lansdown-barrows-and-golden-disc.html A few days ago someone who is writing a book on Lansdown race course asked me about the Bronze Age 'sun disc' that was found in one of the barrows. It was in fact gold over bronze (most of the gold having disappeared) and was in such a terrible state and in so many fragments that its reconstruction is a matter of drawing the complex pattern on paper, which both Rhiannon and Mike Aston have done. Having delved through what little information there is, I was struck by the fact that the term 'sun disc' might be a misnomer for some of these artefacts. These Irish sun discs are buttonlike almost.... http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26880/26880-h/26880-h.htm#Page_62 There is a similar small gold disc found at Jug's Grave also, http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/7660/jugs_grave.html a few miles from the Lansdown, here we are in Wessex kingdom land of course, where gold is occasionally found in the B/A barrows. So was the 6 inch Lansdown a bigger version of a sun disc, and are the smaller ones more like ornamentation for horses or people, And not to forget the Trundholm Sun-Chariot a gold/bronze depiction of a mare pulling the sun, the disc has a certain similarity to the Lansdown one... http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Solvogn.jpg |
Posted by moss 28th February 2011ce Edited 2nd March 2011ce |
On the Lansdown sun disc, from volume 11 of the Proceedings of the Bath Nat.Hist. and Antiq. Field Club (1906).We collected with the greatest care every piece, however small, that could be found. Much of the gold plating, notwithstanding all the precautions we took, was blown away or lost, but enough at any rate remains even now to establish the fact that it was so plated.So the disc was actually gold-plated bronze (contrary to my misplaced understanding that it was pure gold - still at 6 inches diameter that would have been unlikely..). It was found in one of the barrows about 200yds NW of the 'Roman Camp'. http://www.archive.org/stream/proceedingsofbat11bath#page/12/mode/1up This includes a photograph of the fragments. |
Posted by Rhiannon28th September 2005ce Edited 19th January 2012ce |
| Littledown Fort sits on a promontory overlooking the villages of Northstoke and Kelston. Bronze age barrows (3) have been ploughed out in the centre of the fort. There is also a barrow at its entrance, though the farmers seems to use the barrow as a turning point. The entrance from the racecourse side faces due west to Wales. The field in which the fort sits was an old B/A burial place, and yet the iron age fort hardly seems to repect this. Use of the word fort, of course with its military rings gives a false idea of its use; defensive yes on occasions, settlement might be, also place for securing farm animals. Its very similar to Stantonbury fort, in that its seems to have a central dividing bank. Littledown fort sits on the opposite side of the river Avon to Stantonbury, as does Little Solsbury to Bathampton and the theory has been put forward, that these four defended the area round Bath and the river... |
Posted by moss 24th May 2005ce Edited 15th February 2006ce |
|
Kelston Round Hill; to quote Rhiannon "which begs for pagan significance" what about this... Kelston could be translated thus; taken from saxon glossary of words. Ton is probably wrong it means enclosure or farm, but dun (hill) would make sense. The K is changed to C (K is not a letter in Saxon) making it Cel = Celsdun or the Hill of the Celts. It was probably called this by the romans when they occupied Bath.. |
Posted by moss 5th September 2004ce Edited 15th February 2006ce |
|
There has been plenty of evidence found up here on this plateau for the Mesolithic era onwards: flints, Bronze Age barrows, the Iron Age fort of 'Little Down', remains of a Roman town.. There were 20+ barrows but many have been ploughed out or otherwise destroyed. However, in one of them (officially titled 'number 3' though I am yet to find out where this is) a gold disc was found. It was labelled a 'sun disc' by archaeologists, and similar designs have been found across Europe from the Bronze Age. It's probably languishing in the British Museum now and I had to make do with a drawing in the Bristol Museum. It is a nice area to stroll in - cross the racecourse and admire the view from 'Prospect Stile', including the weird tree-crowned Kelston Round Hill (which begs to have prehistoric pagan significance, though I don't know if it does), and walk along the edge to Little Down fort. |
Posted by Rhiannon 25th February 2003ce Edited 16th March 2009ce |
Latest posts for Lansdown |
Showing 1-10 of 16 posts. Most recent first | Next 10 
Lansdown Barrows (Round Barrow(s)) — Fieldnotes |
| As per my notes on Lansdown Camp Barrow Cemetery I couldn't make out any barrows for this site either. I did visit in the middle of summer so perhaps the grass was too high to make them out? Either way, they can't be very big. |
Posted by CARL 16th June 2010ce |
Lansdown Camp (Barrow Cemetery) — Fieldnotes |
| I had a look for the barrows when In the area visiting the English Civil War battlefield site (E.H). I must admit that despite spending a fair bit of time looking for the barrows I couldn't see any. Perhaps the sun needed to be lower on the horizon to show them better? |
Posted by CARL 16th June 2010ce |
North Stoke (Hillfort) — Fieldnotes |
|
I visited this site back last summer. Take the minor road off the A431 and drive into North Stoke village. (The road is a dead end) Park near the church and take the public footpath which runs through the graveyard and around the back of the church. Follow the path up the hill and the hillfort is on your right. Unfortunately, the whole site seems to be fenced off and I couldn't see any easy access points over the fence (it is also very overgrown by the fence). The views down the valley do however make the walk worthwhile. |
Posted by CARL 16th June 2010ce |
Lansdown Barrows (Round Barrow(s)) — Miscellaneous |
|
These pair of barrows lie adjacent to the road, on the opposite side of the road is an old farmhouse. And hereby hangs a tale - for many months I have spied this farmhouse from afar, and have always been able to locate through its opposing chimneys the monument on Cherhill down (30 kms) in the distance, allowing me to focus on Silbury and Avebury. Not exactly a blinding white flash, but the penny dropped when I remembered there was an old chapel which had been embraced in the farmhouse building, giving the whole building an east/west alignment., in fact it sits at an awkward angle to the road - which in itself is probably roman/prehistoric track. So was this an early holy place settled maybe by the "desert" monks, who set up in opposition, or maybe on top of these tumuli, and the thin thread of religion continued down through the ages. What makes it more conclusive is that there is a holy well about 500 yards from the chapel, its called St.Alpege (much later saint) Well. Having written that, no way am I implying that there is a "straight line" to Avebury, its just happenstance and the strange things that happen between earth and sky!! |
Posted by moss 22nd December 2005ce Edited 28th December 2005ce |
North Stoke (Hillfort) — Images (click to view fullsize) |
|
Posted by moss 25th November 2005ce |
North Stoke (Hillfort) — Miscellaneous |
|
This fort was probably a temporary defensive site in times of trouble. Though hillforts are thought of as iron age, they probably have a much longer lineage. It's iron age tag is underlined by the fact there were three barrows in the enclosed area, plus one outside by the entrance. There seems little respect by the later occupants of the earlier people. The "religious significance" of the bronze age barrows not even acknowledged. Its interesting to note that the west entrance lines up with a gap between the hills towards the west coast of Wales and the sea. The area around here has been quarried for centuries, a substantial roman settlement half mile to the north probably took the stone down via North Stoke to the river. The remains of a small stone hut at the foot of the west entrance may have been a 17th/18th c shelter for the people who quarried here, there are the remains of a further hut just by the gate under the escarpment of the fort. History jostles through the landscape not in a measured way but in a small series of reminders that past generations have also eked out their liveilhoods here.. |
Posted by moss 14th August 2005ce |
Lansdown Camp (Barrow Cemetery) — Folklore |
| As Rhiannon added this site, I shall tell a ghost story. Whilst out walking I met a couple on the path near here, falling into conversation as you do, I said that there was a particular spot on the path that felt eerie, and he said that he'd seen the ghost of a gaitered man walking down this path away from the battle. Believe that as you may, but a friend had a similar experience near Dyrham ( 577ad battle site), a gaitered man appeared in a dark lane, but when this person turned his motorbike round to go back and check, the man had mysteriously disappeared. The lane was bordered by high estate walls so where he went was a mystery.... |
Posted by moss 7th August 2005ce |
Lansdown Camp (Barrow Cemetery) — Fieldnotes |
|
This large rectangular enclosure is said to be a defensive 17th Civil War enclosure, The Lansdown Battle was fought on two battlefields about a mile from here. Its interesting because it stands in a bronze age burial ground, with three barrows still remaining, and the rest ploughed away, the large stones being stacked against its side. At the edge of the field is Littledown hillfort on the escarpment, obviously a prime area for defence! The photo shows the reason why; the commanding view to the Welsh mountains over the Bristol Plain and Severn estuary. |
Posted by moss 7th August 2005ce Edited 14th August 2005ce |
Lansdown Camp (Barrow Cemetery) — Images |
|
Posted by moss 7th August 2005ce |
North Stoke (Hillfort) — Images |
|
Posted by moss 5th August 2005ce |
Showing 1-10 of 16 posts. Most recent first | Next 10
Top of page