Lowbury Hill: An artificial grove?
‘Lowbury Hill in Oxfordshire, England, has long been regarded as the site of a probable Romano-British temple. The summit of the hill is occupied by several earthworks, including a rectangular enclosure and a round barrow. The site was excavated in 1913-14, when the bank and interior were investigated.
Further work has recently been carried out, including a geophysical survey and a limited excavation programme. One of the most interesting features discovered in this new investigation is the presence of a series of shallow, irregular scoops in the chalk, filled with dark, loamy soil, which have been interpreted as tree holes. These seem to have formed part of the primary demarcation of the sacred enclosure, and appear to represent deliberately planted trees.
This activity perhaps took place in the first century AD. The inference is that the first construction was replaced in the second century AD by an enclosing wall: inside there was probably a simple temple building; associated with it were a group of spears (including a deliberately bent one), coins and other finds indicative of sacred use.
But the first phase may have comprised a deliberately planted holy grove. One further discovery of possible relevance is the burial of a woman whose face had been mutilated, though it is uncertain to which phase this body belongs.‘
Miranda J Green
1997
having spent years walking round lowbury hill and surounding downs i've come to the conclusion that its part of a sacred landscape;the ridgeway path is near by(conecting ivinghoe to avebury) also grims ditch plus river thames flowing into goring gap ,the preceiding 2 miles of t.v feels like it would of been special to ancients like Nile was to Egyptions.and many other neolithic abnomolies my opinion is that there was a henge on this site which the romans would of distroyed in the way churches were built on pagan sites to eradicate prievious belife systems.happy to show anyone around these .nic oxon
due north of lowbury is grims ditch pre-roman the ditch has a strange kink in its course within that kink is a dish cut into the chalk aprox 30 feet across with banking around it .it is posible that with a central post and incrimental markings this could be used as a sundial /dish which would show times of day and times of year if it was it would be the first of its type and long before others being used in europe.
atop lobury hill near trig point u can see where circle temple would stand there is a dep in center and circle seems to be 50 yards across.