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Bredon Hill
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Sites in this group:
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11 posts
Bambury Stone Natural Rock Feature |
22 posts
Conderton Camp Hillfort |
31 posts
Kemerton Camp Hillfort |
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6 posts
King and Queen Stone Natural Rock Feature |
Sites of disputed antiquity:
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1 post
St Katherine's Well Sacred Well |
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Fieldnotes |
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Bredon Hill ... what a strange and magical place. For a year in 1988/89 I lived in a farm cottage on its lower slopes, right underneath Kemerton Camp. I remember lying in bed at night listening to a strange unidentified hooting creature flying very slowly over the roof. Freaked the living daylights out of me. But it was a wonderful place to live. Great place for sun worship. The hill is covered with relics of ancient activity, including two separate forts. Kemerton Camp is the largest, occupying the highest point of the hill on the north side, and making the most of a steep natural escarpment. The short stone tower on the top, known as Parsons Folly, dates from the late 18th century and was allegedly built to bring the height of the hill up to a round 1000ft, its natural height being 960ft. The slopes below the escarpment are covered in lumps and bumps, some of which are the foundations of an ancient village and some the remains of quarrying, and it's hard to tell them apart. According to my former next-door neighbour, a local farm worker, the village of Nafford was originally located up here but was abandoned and later rebuilt further down the valley next to the River Avon. Among the bumps is the outline of a small rectangular building ... a medieval pilgrim's chapel very close to the unassuming but still rather special St Catherine's Well. Conderton Camp, on the SE side of the hill, is much smaller and quite secluded ... possibly a peace-time settlement because it's less obviously defended and has a very different feel to the larger fort. There's also an earthwork on the lower NE slopes of the hill just outside the village of Elmley Castle. Slightly less ancient, but really well worth a visit, are some of the 11th and 12th century carvings in the village churches around the hill. Most spectacular is Beckford parish church, which has carvings on its chancel arch of a creature with antennae that looks like an alien. In a more mundane style the porch at Elmley Castle has a really groovy rabbit. |
Posted by Rebsie25th April 2006ce |
Folklore |
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About the beginning of the last century, a hillock on the side of the hill, containing about an acre, with its trees and cattle, slipped nearly 100 yards down.There have been lots of landslips here, fair enough. But surely "with its trees and cattle" conjures up some great images and the start of some tall tales. |
Posted by Rhiannon14th February 2008ce |
Weather folklore for the hill: The following is a Worcestershire saying:p292 in Choice Notes from Notes and Queries - Folklore (1859). |
Posted by Rhiannon 27th February 2007ce |
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from Benedict's Pool by Fred Archer "Behind the monastery at the foot of Bredon Hill, enclosed by two copices, lies Benedict's Pool. Few villagers fish from the dark pond, nor will they visit it on moonlit nights, for it is said to be haunted by a mysterious lady in white. You can see the fortifications of an Iron Age camp on the summit; Roman coins and pottery have been turned up by the plough; and remains of mutilated skeletons found - evidence of a bloody battle before the Roman invasion. The spirits of the ancient soldiers - Briton, Roman and Saxon - are thought to live on in the beech trees, and the sound of men marching has been heard from under the soil." |
Posted by Rhiannon 25th July 2002ce Edited 26th April 2006ce |
The 'Beast of Bredon'. Described as a large black cat, this animal has been sighted by many local people, mostly at the eastern end of the hill. The story about this beast first broke on the 21st April 1995 when a Mr. Watkins of Ashton-under-Hill found some large paw prints in the mud near his home. This claim was accompanied by both photographs of the prints and supporting testimony of one Mr. Figgett from Tewkesbury. He said that he saw the animal going through a hedge near the Westmancote turning between Bredon and Kemerton. Sightings elsewhere included that of the 24th April when the Gloucestershire Echo reported another sighting in Cirencester. By May 1995 reports of big cats in Gloucestershire and surrounding areas had reached the point where the Ministry of Agriculture had drafted in a tracker hound to try to locate one of the animals. Sightings of the black beast have far from diminished in the last four years. Many serious attempts have been made across Britain to catch one of these animals, mostly in the south-west of England, but none have proved successful as yet. The Beast of Bredon has had a serious effect on some locals. A Worcester lady I spoke to recently says that ever since she saw the 'beast' on Bredon Hill she has been concerned when out walking. This big cat is one of Bredon's more modern and tangible mysteries. Excerpt from Bredon Hill, by Brian Hoggard |
Posted by Rhiannon 25th July 2002ce Edited 26th April 2006ce |
Miscellaneous |
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Here's a strange story from Bredon Hill. I like the way it finishes with "it is said that a strong sulphurous odour was perceived" - kind of geological, but hinting at the unusual and possibly devilish origins of the phenomenon, perhaps?!About half past five in the afternoon of Thursday, the 3d of May 1849, during a storm of thunder, lightning and hail, an enormous body of water was seen to rush down a gully in the Bredon Hill, and direct its course to the village of Kemerton. The stream was broad and impetuous, carrying everything before it. Its extraordinary force and body of water may be judged from the fact, that, on reaching the residence of the Rev. W. H. Bellairs, of kemerton, it broke down a stone wall which surrounded the garden, burst through the foundation of another, made a way for itself through the dwelling-house, and then carried off a third wall of brick, six feet high. The garden soil was washed away, and "enormous blocks of stone," and debris from the hill left in its place. By this time the current was considerably broken; nevertheless, it flowed through the house, to the depth of nearly three feet, for the space of an hour and forty minutes. The neighbouring railway was so deeply flooded as to delay the express train, by extinguishing the fire of the engine.The Rev. went up for a look on Saturday, and seemed to find that a waterspout had dumped its water on the north-west shoulder of the hill, not even the top, as he couldn't find much damage there? A five acre barley field had been totally flattened. The water hadn't spread out as it had rushed down the hill, it had stayed in the gully, and he claimed that "the general depth of the torrent was from six to seven feet." Bizarre and scary. From p182 of The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal (1850). |
Posted by Rhiannon 29th April 2007ce Edited 29th April 2007ce |
Latest posts for Bredon Hill |
Showing 1-10 of 71 posts. Most recent first | Next 10 
Conderton Camp (Hillfort) — Images (click to view fullsize) |
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Posted by thesweetcheat1st March 2023ce |
Kemerton Camp (Hillfort) — Images |
 
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Posted by GLADMAN9th August 2021ce |
Kemerton Camp (Hillfort) — Links |
Kemerton Camp promontory fortA walk around Kemerton Camp upon the hottest day of the year. OK, more like a stagger.... |
Posted by GLADMAN 9th August 2021ce |
Kemerton Camp (Hillfort) — Images |
     
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Posted by GLADMAN 9th August 2021ce |
Showing 1-10 of 71 posts. Most recent first | Next 10
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