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Lowbury Hill CampSacred Hill
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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 |
Posted by wysefool3rd October 2007ce Edited 3rd October 2007ce |
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1887 was Queen Victoria's golden jubilee year, and on June 21st beacon fires were lit all over the country to celebrate. "At Lowbury-hill, Reading, 40 fires [lit on other hills] were counted, and 1,000 people from all the surrounding parishes sang "God Save the Queen" with great enthusiasm around the fire. A traction engine drew two truckfuls of people to the top of the hill.. ..there must have been 2,000-3,000 fires [countrywide] at least. The most striking and the most beautiful sight was the instantaneous bursting into view of all these fires when the signal was given, proving, if proof were necessary, the former value of beacon fires.." From a letter to the Times by Victor Milward, on Tuesday, Jun 28, 1887; pg. 8. |
Posted by Rhiannon22nd May 2007ce Edited 22nd May 2007ce |
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extract from 'Berkshire' by Ian Yarrow '...The camp is so obviously Roman with its oyster shells and rectangular shape that it is easy to forget that Bronze and Iron Age things have been unearthed here and that the Roman oyster shells should more properly be grouped with the bottle tops and ice-cream papers left behind by twentieth-century invaders. Lady readers may be interested to know that here at Lowbury the skeleton of a woman, her skull smashed in, was found buried in the foundations of a stone wall.' Wysefool says: The last time i went up to Lowbury, there was def some bumps of round barrows there, if they are Bronze Age or Roman, i do not know. |
Posted by wysefool 7th May 2007ce |
| Lowbury hill is a probable Romano-Celtic temple and an Anglo-Saxon burial site. (source the archaeological journal vol 151 - 1994) |
Posted by wysefool 5th February 2007ce |
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