There are a number of round cairns up here on Wills Neck - there doesn't seem to be a 'camp' though, as the following author suggests, but the folklore does relate to the fields below:
[A camp], unnamed, lying in Aisholt parish, on the eastern slopes, and guarding a pass over the highest ridge of the hills, "Will's Neck," seems to be associated with a more definite battle-tradition yet. The field below the spur of the hill where the camp lies, in which the fight took place, is still pointed out as that where "the worst battle ever fought in these parts was fought. The dead men were heaped all so high as the top of the gates, and the blood ran out so deep as the second thill," (i.e. gate bar). The folk can tell you no more, but will repeat the detail, only adding that it is not so long ago that the graves of the dead men could be seen in the field, and that swords and spears had been dug up often. Nothing is visible now to break the surface, and it is not known what became of the weapons. This statement is probably traditional, and may date back indefinitely.
Local Traditions of the Quantocks
C. W. Whistler
Folklore, Vol. 19, No. 1. (Mar. 30, 1908), pp. 31-51.
Log in |
Register
0 discussions
Show map (inline Google Map)
Add an image 
Posted by Rhiannon
Top of page