...........Ford-Johnston suggested the builders of early Hillforts may have used the 'sacredness' of the barrows as part of the sites defences.

At ivinghoe in Beds, along with a few other examples I can think of, there is a huge bowl barrow within the hillfort itself. This seems strange to me. I could undetstand using the barrows outside of a fort as defence, in the sense that Ford-Johnston used the word, but to have something of such 'power' within the living space itself seems at odds with the idea of 'sacredness'.

Of course, the function of Hillforts in general is far from clear and Ivinghoe is a very early example, so I wonder what the 'non avoidance', if you like, in this instance could indicate?

If the builders of Ivinghoe were airily unconcerned about the ancestor(s) outside their huts front door, you might imagine they would have destroyed the thing. The hillfort is small, the barrow is not.
On the other hand, if they felt it sacred, had great respect, as appears to be the case (it's still there!) it is hard to imagine them 'living among it'.

Even if it is a totally different scenario, and the people of Ivinghoe hillfort raised the barrow themselves, it is hard to imagine why they chose to put it within the living space when there are others dotted around the hill, outside of the fort.............

Hi ED,

Firstly, I like your style of writing - very enjoyable, and a pleasure to read.

Secondly, and more to the point, it's an interesting topic that you raise. My opinion on barrows within hillforts is that of superstition. I really believe that they respected the barrows as places that housed the dead. And that the reason was because they were afraid of the spirits of the departed, and the vengeance that they would deliver upon anyone desecrating their tombs.

When the first hillforts were built people still lived in a time when so much wasn't fully understood, and the basic beliefs were almost the same as they had been for a few thousand years.

Maiden Castle at Dorchester is another example, and the site has been used since the neolithic.

A healthy respect for the dead, by superstition, is what it was.

Cheers,
TE.