The Bulwarks (Minchinhampton)

Nearest town:
Nailsworth (2km SSW)
OS reference:
SO857004
OS sheet:
162
Latitude:
51° 42' 6.03 N
Longitude:
2° 12' 25.02 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of The Bulwarks (Minchinhampton) (Dyke) by thesweetcheat

The central section of the earthwork, helpfully highlighted by the snow.

Image credit: A. Brookes (26.1.2013)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 29, 2013
Image of The Bulwarks (Minchinhampton) (Dyke) by thesweetcheat

The earthwork is cut by the busy Minchinhampton – Stroud road.

Image credit: A. Brookes (26.1.2013)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 29, 2013
Image of The Bulwarks (Minchinhampton) (Dyke) by thesweetcheat

View north along the southern section of The Bulwarks. Part of the golf course is on the right of the picture.

Image credit: A. Brookes (23.8.2009)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 6, 2009
Image of The Bulwarks (Minchinhampton) (Dyke) by vulcan

The Bulwarks on Minchinhampton common could be iron age or possibly later. The earthworkings are about 1 mile in length stretching between SO857004 and SO863013 and possibly cut into bedrock. There may also have been a dry stone wall some 4 foot in height retaining the spoil of the waste stone. There have also been modern day quarrying of stone from the SO857004 end.

Image credit: Vulcan
V
vulcan Aug 19, 2004

Articles

The Bulwarks (Minchinhampton)

C
CARL Mar 8, 2013

Visited 6.3.13

Directions:
There are several minor roads which run across Minchinhampton Common.
One of the roads runs right through The Bulwarks Dyke.

I have only ever visited a couple of Dykes in the past but this is probably the second most impressive I have seen (after a superb section of Offa’s Dyke near Knighton).

The Dyke is very obvious and snakes across the Common.
The banks still stand to around 2m in height – from the base of the ditch

Well worth a look when visiting the nearby Whitfields Tump Long Barrow.

***
In the excellent book Prehistoric England by Nicholas Thomas (page 131) there is a nice photo of a section of the Dyke being excavated. You can see how well constructed it was. In the book it is referred to as Minchinhampton Enclosure and is said to be over 1 mile long enclosing an area of 600 acres. The excavation found the original ditch to have been 6ft deep and 12ft wide. Interestingly the book states the Dyke may have been built by Caratacus following his defeat by the Romans. (Don’t think it would have stopped the Romans for very long!)

The Bulwarks (Minchinhampton)

thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 6, 2009

Second visit (23.8.09) walking up from Nailsworth to follow the southern section of the earthwork. Today a herd of cows grazing on the common were competing with a herd of golfers and the ever-present traffic to cause the greatest degree of hazard to the innocent stone-spotter.

The bank and ditch has been incorporated into the golf course and forms a backdrop to a number of tees and greens. Still, it’s all ritual of a sort...

The Bulwarks (Minchinhampton)

thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Mar 22, 2009

Visited 21.3.2009 on walk from Nailsworth, via Avening and Minchinhampton. a lovely spring day brought loads of people out onto the common, flying kites, horse-riding, dog-walking and (inevitably) golfing, as the common is home to yet another Cotswold golf-course.

The earthworks known as The Bulwarks are mainly notable for their length (about 2 miles) rather than any huge scale. The common is covered in earthworks, ranging in date from the Neolithic Whitfield’s Tump, through the Bronze Age (a possible round barrow) to the medieval (various pillow mounds). The Bulwarks are generally attributed as an Iron Age construction.

Worth a visit, especially on a nice day combined with a trip to the ice-cream van.

Sites within 20km of The Bulwarks (Minchinhampton)

Like all websites everywhere, we use cookies.