Barbury Castle Hillfort View all content for Barbury Castle

Sometimes Facebook throws up a delight. For a while now I've been linked up with a Facebook page called 'Swindon - Past and Present'. A Swindon archaeologist by the name of Bernard Phillips has been posting some very interesting items about sites of archaeological interest in and around Swindon. Just read this about Barbury Castle: "South of Wroughton, stands the Boroughs largest and most impressive Iron Age hillfort - Barbury Castle. Like Liddington Castle it was built around 750BC. Its double defensive ditches and ramparts enclose an area 11.5 acres (4.65 hectares). A geophysical survey in 1996 and an earthwork survey in 1998 by the Royal Commission for Historical Monuments recorded forty hut circles and hundreds of pits within it. Chance discoveries include a blacksmiths hoard that comprised knives, sickles, awls, spearheads, an anvil and a chariot fitting, and pits containing pottery and skeletons. The combined evidence points to this hillfort being dominant in the region serving domestic, agricultural, trading, military and religious functions throughout the Iron Age."

Posted by tjj 17th May 2016ce

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