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

Fieldnotes by MelMel

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Midsummer Hill (Hillfort)

Inside the memorial shelter there is a National trust sign saying: "This iron age Hill fort was given to The National trust in 1923 in memory of Captain Reginald Somers Cocks, M.C."

Little Doward (Hillfort)

Be careful in the summer- there are insects (wood ants?) that gave my dog some nasty bites.. so bad we don't go up there in summer anymore.

Garway Hill (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork)

A warning- if walking up on the hill with a dog keep it under control- there are sheep and ponies loose (sometimes with lambs and foals!)

Little Doward (Hillfort)

I visted little Doward Camp today.
I walked along the rampart which is on the left (with the big hacked up tree on the end of it) when you enter the fort (from Crockers Ash direction) which led to a path that follows the outside of the rampart, and found another rampart and ditch in the woods.
I then walked down the path which goes down the slope where there are no defences. I saw something that I at first thought might be a rampart but was actually rock (which looks like limestone). I walked on the path that goes around the hill; the rock is very high(like a small cliff), and the hill is extremely steep so they act like a natural set of defences.

There are a number of other historic features near the fort, including an iron age causeway, have a look on the Herefordshire Sites and Monuments Record:
http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/hsmr/db.php

Little Doward Camp is a scheduled ancient monument, in a Site of Special Scientific Interest and near Regionally Important Geological Sites.

Ysgyryd Fawr (Hillfort)

Ysgyryd means "shivered" or "shattered". This is due to the hill's jagged western side, caused by landslips in the ice age.

It's easy to get to, you can walk to the summit from the car park on the side of the B4521 road from Abergavenny to Ross-on-Wye.

Little Doward (Hillfort)

I revisited the fort on the 15th of February 2009. Most of the clearance of the site seems to be finished, so you can get a really good idea of the scale of the place. It's huge! I'd estimate it's nearly a quarter of a mile wide. Around some of the edges of the fort are some really steep drops, so be careful.

On one the ramparts there is some kind of mound. I'm really not sure what this is or how old it is. It could be modern.

On the South Eastern edge of the fort there seem to be no defences, so maybe they're somewhere further down the slope of the hill?

It's also interesting to note there's a Roman Settlement at the bottom of the hill in Lord's Wood..

There's work going on to clear the trees at this site, so you're probably better off visiting out of working hours, otherwise you won't be allowed in there. This site is a mess at the moment. Lots of the site (and the hill) is taped off at the moment. They haven't cleared away branches, etc, so it's likely that it will end up in the same state (i.e. overgrown and covered in trees) again. Because of this, it's difficult to really get an impression of the scale of the site. The site left me disappointed, and frustrated by the over zealous conifer planting policies of the 1950s.

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