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Waltham Down (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) — Fieldnotes

Camping at East Dean a few weeks back I noticed on our OS map a small collection of barrows nearby just off a trackway. One of them was evidently bigger than the others as the symbol for it was a star with a surrounding dotted line. Intrigued we set off into the woods, the setting sun behind us.

Waltham Down barrow cemetery sits on the edge of the South Downs near East Dean, consisting of an arc of four reasonably large barrows and one particularly large mound. They're quite well hidden in the deciduous forest there and it's quite magical as you wander through and one by one they're presented to you, but the trees were only planted just after World War Two, so it may have been quite open originally and easily seen, not too dissimilar to the relatively close 'Devil's Jumps' site further West just off the South Downs Way. The largest barrow in the group is slightly isolated from the other four and has been dug into at some time and almost hollowed out, giving it the appearance of a sleeping volcano. Still standing over 2m in height it appears to be unusually constructed of flint nodules, more like a cairn than a barrow, as most barrows in this area are chalk rubble and earth constructions. We wandered around for a while and followed a sort of fossilised cart track through the woods until we came out into the opening overlooking Heath Hill, then retraced our steps through the woods into the dying rays of the setting sun.

Stagsbury Hill (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) — Images (click to view fullsize)

<b>Stagsbury Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Stagsbury Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Stagsbury Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Stagsbury Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Stagsbury Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Stagsbury Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Stagsbury Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane

The Butt (Fritham) (Round Barrow(s)) — Images

<b>The Butt (Fritham)</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>The Butt (Fritham)</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>The Butt (Fritham)</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>The Butt (Fritham)</b>Posted by A R Cane

Wandlebury (Hillfort) — Images

<b>Wandlebury</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Wandlebury</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Wandlebury</b>Posted by A R Cane

Scratchbury (Hillfort) — Images

<b>Scratchbury</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Scratchbury</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Scratchbury</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Scratchbury</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Scratchbury</b>Posted by A R Cane

Battlesbury Camp (Hillfort) — Images

<b>Battlesbury Camp</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Battlesbury Camp</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Battlesbury Camp</b>Posted by A R Cane

Cley Hill (Hillfort) — Images

<b>Cley Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Cley Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Cley Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Cley Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane

White Sheet Hill (Causewayed Enclosure) — Images

<b>White Sheet Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>White Sheet Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>White Sheet Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>White Sheet Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>White Sheet Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>White Sheet Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>White Sheet Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane

Wiltshire — News

'The Making of Prehistoric Wiltshire' book published.


Well-known for its World Heritage Sites of Stonehenge and Avebury, the prehistoric monuments of Wiltshire have long provided a focus of attention for archaeologists and visitors alike. Today the Wiltshire sites are perceived as an important focal point in British prehistory.

Yet there is much more to the prehistory of Wiltshire than Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury Hill. The latter sites are of course all here, and discussed with personal insight, but so too are the widespread fields and enclosures of the Bronze Age that established a template across the countryside for later generations to follow, and the enormous hillforts of the Iron Age that stand sentinel-like overlooking the chalkland river valleys. Interesting sites abound, particularly on the wide expanses of uncultivated downland, and these provide a remarkable insight into past societies, economy and settlement. Prehistoric impact on the landscape was huge and the archaeology reveals the nature of development and changes across the countryside.

This volume provides an up-to-date account of the prehistory of Wiltshire from the earliest evidence for human occupation to the influence on the Romano-British countryside; it outlines the effect of past climate change on the topography and how animals and people established the landscape that we know today. The story is one of exuberant but excessive monument building, of innovation potentially fuelled by competition to impress, and of the struggle to subsist.

- See more at: https://www.amberley-books.com/prehistoric-landscapes-of-wiltshire.html

East Hill (Promontory Fort) — Images

<b>East Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>East Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>East Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>East Hill</b>Posted by A R Cane

Cherhill Down and Oldbury (Hillfort) — Fieldnotes

I called here on my way to my parents near Swindon and hadn’t been here for more than 20 years prior to this. It’s very easy to locate owing to the Lansdowne Monument, a 38m stone obelisk on Cherhill Down visible from both the A4 and the A361. Because of its proximity to Avebury, Silbury Hill, West Kennet Long Barrow, et al., the area is littered with sites from the Neolithic to the Iron Age and also includes more recent works like the white horse cut in 1780. I parked at the run off East of the hill fort in what must have been the Old Bath Road before it was metalled and straightened somewhat and made my way past the gallops and up towards the top of the Down. The path isn’t very obvious from this direction, but you do get to see a lot of earthworks which may, or may not, be connected with the hill fort. Some may be hut circles or animal pens, others might be dew ponds or slightly unambitious chalk quarries. Reaching the South East corner (it’s not round!) of the hill fort you get great views of the surrounding hills to the South and West including the linear Bronze Age barrow groups on Morgans Hill and also an impression of the scale of the mighty banks and ditches of the fort itself. Early evening is almost always the best time to visit these kind of sites, particularly if you have low raking sunlight. It brings out the best definition and colour in the landscape and makes it almost heartbreakingly beautiful and, for me, tinged with nostalgia. Moving around the earthworks in a clockwise direction you come past the Lansdowne Monument and get a good view of the long barrow, the oldest element in the vicinity, standing on a slight promontory just below it. By this time it’s becoming clear that the Western horizon is filling with rain clouds and so I head North East again taking in the white horse and then exit via the hill fort’s Eastern opening descending back towards the A4. As you get to the bottom of this track you’ll notice a fine barrow in the corner of a field (Cherhill 4 - not very romantic is it?) and if you turn right you’re back on the Old Bath Road track which is where the parking place is. By now the weather was going into overdrive and though the torrential downpour I’d been anticipating hadn’t yet materialised, the sky was now leaden and a fantastic rainbow appeared at the end of the track urging me onwards. Before you get to the parking spot there’s another large barrow right beside the track which, although I didn’t notice at the time, has a World War Two bunker built into the North side of it. This makes strategic sense in terms of the now disused Yatesbury airfield just the other side of the A4. I reach my car just in the nick of time as the raindrops descend. What luck! What weather! What poetry!

Cherhill Down and Oldbury (Hillfort) — Images

<b>Cherhill Down and Oldbury</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Cherhill Down and Oldbury</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Cherhill Down and Oldbury</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Cherhill Down and Oldbury</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Cherhill Down and Oldbury</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Cherhill Down and Oldbury</b>Posted by A R Cane

Cherhill 4 (Round Barrow(s)) — Images

<b>Cherhill 4</b>Posted by A R Cane

Old Bath Road Barrow (Round Barrow(s)) — Images

<b>Old Bath Road Barrow</b>Posted by A R Cane<b>Old Bath Road Barrow</b>Posted by A R Cane

Chanctonbury Ring (Hillfort) — Images

<b>Chanctonbury Ring</b>Posted by A R Cane
Previous 50 | Showing 101-150 of 1,267 posts. Most recent first | Next 50
I'm a professional photographer living in West Sussex and have been interested in ancient sites since childhood. I was brought up near Barbury Castle in Wiltshire so visits to hill forts, stone circles and various lumps and bumps were routine. The grip of these fantastic places still has a hold on me and I still get a feeling of total wellbeing whenever I come across a new place or revisit familiar places. Much of that is to do with the magnificent or interesting locations in which they're found and equally the mystery attached to them - we know so little and can imagine so much.

http://www.landtraces.com

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