

Autumn Brackenbury.
Western flank, looking approx north.... I think.
The south-eastern corner of the promontory fort...
Eastern outer bank, looking north(ish)
Eastern flank, looking approx south.
Brackenbury Ditches hillfort is centre skyline, above Wotton-under-Edge. The viewpoint is Hawkesbury Knoll, next to the long barrow.
Curving sweep of the ramparts at the south of the fort.
Oblique shot of the two inturned banks flanking the original southern entrance to the fort.
The ground falls away steeply to the south and west.
Attempts to control the vegetation are welcome, as the earthworks of this fort are very decent.
Southern end of the ramparts.
Further clearance work, between inner and middle ramparts.
Outer bank and vegetation-choked outer ditch, northeast side of the fort.
Towering trees crowd the top of the banks, northeast side of the fort.
The controlled burning in the ditch evidences attempts to control and clear some of the self-seeded saplings on the earthworks.
Between middle and inner banks, NE side of the fort.
Landscape context from the NNW, on a very overcast day. The fort occupies a spur off the highest part of the wooded hill across the valley, to the left of the Tyndale Monument. From Stinchcombe Hill, once thought to be site of its own Iron Age camp/beacon.
Companion to Mr Cane’s fine weather shot.... hopefully proving the fabulous siting of the ‘fort is worth the effort in any conditions. Looking from the Tyndale Monument.
The substantial double banks on the Northern side of this fantastically overgrown camp.
Possible entrance/exit on the South West side. I got the feeling that it may have been recently created or possibly enlarged to help with the clearance of wood, which makes it all but impossible to see or navigate the interior of the camp.
Building material visible amongst tree roots.
Looking down on the inner ditch and outer ring on the SW side from a possible entrance/exit.
Inner ditch on the South East side.
This is why they didn’t need any fortifications on the South West side!
Looking North from the South Eastern exit.
Viewed from the top of the Tyndale Monument. The camp is well hidden amongst the woodland.
This one was a bit of a happy accident as I had no idea it was here. We’d set off for a Sunday afternoon walk with my brother-in-law’s family to the Tyndale Monument (the Nibley Knob as it’s known locally) which was erected in 1866 to the memory of William Tyndale, a local man from North Nibley, who’d had the bare faced cheek to translate the bible from Latin to English and was strangled and burned for his trouble in France!
Making our way along the escarpment from Wooton-under-Edge through dense woodland I was suddenly aware that we were walking along the edge of some massive banks and ditches and I asked if it was what I thought it was and was given an affirmative. As we traversed the edge it became clear that it was quite a good size and a typical Iron Age bivallate promontory fort, not quite as impressive as it’s nearby neighbour at Uley Bury and certainly a lot more overgrown with vegetation, but there had been obvious attempts to clear some of this from the outer ditches. On the South Western edge there was an entrance way, but it was difficult to know whether this was original as it looked a bit too new and there were bits of limestone building material visible under tree roots. Possibly it had recently been enlarged to enable the gradual clearance of the interior. However, at the moment the interior is still quite choked and almost impenetrable. It would definitely be worth a revisit during the late autumn when the foliage has thinned as the views over the surrounding area to the South and as far as Bristol are just stunning.