thesweetcheat

From “Hereforshire Register of Countryside Treasures” (1981) H&W CC:

“Area within mainly natural contour defences of this early Iron-Age fort is about 24 acres, and, with outworks, camp covers about 48 acres, but over the years has suffered from ploughing and quarrying. Original entrances are at SE and NE ends. Apart from double ramparts, a very substantial inner one rises about 20ft above the enclosure in one place. Unusual feature is berm forming walkway along much of its length.

This is one of the most impressive hillforts in the County.”

Access to the fort is via bridleways running from Ivington (to the NW) or Brierly (to the NE).

From “Herefordshire Register of Countryside Treasures” (1981) H&W CC:

“Single rampart rises 1m or so above Iron-Age hill fort whose interior covers 8.8. ha (22 acres). Area under cultivation. Poorly defined NE entrance still visible”

The fort occupies a prominent position on a steeply sloping hill to the south of Ross-on-Wye. Access is via the Wye Valley Walk footpath.

Some information that may be of use to TMA-ers looking at OS maps of England and Wales, from “Field Archaeology – Some Notes For Beginners Issued by the Ordnance Survey” (1963 – Fourth edition), chapter entitled “Tumuli”:

“Today the term tumulus is reserved for those earthen mounds either known or presumed to be covering burials. Formerly a class of larger mounds, now known to belong to early medieval castles also received this name in error ..., but now are given their correct technical description or are described as ‘Mound’ in the appropriate type. All piles of stones are called cairns whether their funerary character is known or not, but the use of an ‘antiquity’ type will mean that the Survey believes it to be sepulchral. In some very lofty situations it will be obvious that they are not graves. Where a mound has a local name which clearly indicates the belief that it is a burial place the descriptive name tumulus is not added.”

Extensive excavations were carried out at Gwithian/Godrevy during the 1950s. The excavations finds and records have recently been re-evaluated by Cornwall CC Historical and Environmental Service. Regarding Bronze Age occupation, here is an extract from the www.cornisharchaeology.org.uk website:

“For the Bronze Age sites (GMX, XI, XV etc) recent radiocarbon dates show that the earliest settlement dates to 1800 cal BC with cultivation taking place within terraced fields and enclosures. The true extent of these early fields is unknown but plough-marks were found scored into the earliest land surface revealing well-developed farming and horticulture practices. Barley was grown (Hordeum sp.). Land snails indicated a broadly open local landscape and fragments of marine shells found mixed into the earliest soils with other organic matter, shows active manuring and composting. The ground plan of a remarkable round wooden building – a probable single homestead – set within a stake-built enclosure was found. Another major phase of settlement (dating to c 1500 – 1200 cal BC) was marked by evidence for extensive cultivation, great areas of criss-cross furrows found in small fields, and animal husbandry. A number of human cremations were buried alongside field walls indicating ownership and a powerful bond with the land. The final phase of settlement, which dates c 1300 – 900 cal BC, is more complex in character. In areas where there had earlier been fields, a small nucleated village was established made up of circular post-built buildings. Some were dwelling houses but some were probably animal shelters and workshops. The land around was still divided into fields many of which had been laid out generations before. Evidence for a wide variety of industry and craft activities was found: pottery manufacture, leather and bone working, fishing and small-scale metalworking. The demise of this exceptionally long settlement history was marked by the abandonment of the village and its burial under tons of settlement rubbish. The Bronze Age story at Gwithian over perhaps up to 20 generations of farmers is very much a story of people and land.”

From Camden’s “Britannia” (1586):

“in a place called Biscawe Woune are nineteen stones in a circle, twelve feet from each other, and in the circle stands one much larger than the rest”

Perhaps Nicholas Crane should visit as part of his current Camden’s Britannia series on BBC2?

From “Speculi Britannia pars” – Norden (circa 1584), the first description of the quoit:

“Tretheuie, called in Latine Casa gigantis, a litle howse raysed of mightie stones, standing on a litle hill within a feilde, the form hereunder expressed.”

and

“This monument standeth in the parish of St Clere. The cover being all one stone, is from A to B 16 foote in length, the bredth from C to D is 10 foote, the thicknes from G to H is 2 foote; E is an artificiall holl 8 inches diameter, made thorowgh the roofe very rounde, which served as it seemeth to putt out a staffe, whereof the howse itself was not capable: F was the dore or entrance”

It is interesting that Dr Borlase did not mention Trethevy and the next published reference was in 1801 (“Beauties of England and Wales” – Britton and Bayley).

From “Beauties of England and Wales” – Britton and Bayley (1801):

Within a furlong of the north-east of the church, is a small Druidical Circle, that has not hitherto been noticed. It consists of seven or eight stones, one of which is about nine feet in height: four are upright, the others are either broken, or concealed by a hedge, which divides the circle; part being in an orchard, and part in an adjoining field. We are unable to state its dimensions accurately, but its diameter does not appear to exceed twenty or twenty-five feet

This may be the earliest published reference to the circle?

Info about the site from “Gloucestershire Barrows” – H. O’Neil and L.V.Grinsell (1960) Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch. Soc., listing three barrows, the largest of which, based on 1959 measurements, is 12ft high from W, 6ft high from E. On top is a hollow 10 yards diameter and 3.5 ft deep. The mound is surrounded by a ditch 11ft wide and 3.5 ft deep and there are slight indications of an outer bank.

In 1981, W.L. Cox (“Prehistoric and Roman Sites of the Cheltenham area” (1981 2nd ed)) recorded the site as:

“One large round barrow and the remains of a small one, the latter being difficult to see SW of the former. They are situated in a small plantation alongside the B4070 from the Air Balloon to Birdlip and opposite the entrance to the car park of the Inn. The large mound is taller (12ft) from the west, than the east (6ft), owing to the slope of the ground.

Without investigation it is difficult to date these mounds but the siting below the ridge would suggest a Bronze Age date 3000 years old”

In 1987, a “clandestine hole” was dug into the largest barrow, revealing a “limestone cairn structure” (Gloucestershire Barrows: supplement 1961 – 1988” – T.C.Darvill and L.V. Grinsell (1989) Trans of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch. Soc.

Barrow excavated in 1912, found to enclose three stone-lined graves, containing the skeletons of an adult male, and adult female and a child, plus a selection of grave goods including bone pins, flint tools and a white polished pebble.

Gloucestershire HER:

The first record of the barrow dates to 1625 when a juror’s report on the manor of Cheltenham noted ‘the stones of Northfield Hill’ as one of the boundary markers of the manor. The barrow mound was partially excavated in 1912 by HC Hill, at which time it was about 3.5m high and 12m in diameter. The large depression in the centre of the barrow is thought to result from this excavation. The barrow was found to have been systematically constructed from alternate layers of stone and earth, with three primary burials lying in separate stone cists about 1.8m from the top of the mound. The burials included the remains of two adults and a child which were associated with a number of grave goods including a flint knife, a flint saw, a whetstone, a crystal and a polished white pebble. A secondary burial was found to have been dug into the side of the mound. Considerable evidence for burning was found on the original ground surface, and the site was covered over with rubble ‘for the purpose of preservation’.

Now only 10m diameter though probable original extent indicated by slight swelling in ground. There is an enormous hole in the centre of this barrow, so that very little of the circumference survives & this is partially ploughed.

The fort encloses c. 7 acres with a single bank rampart on the south and east sides (the north and west sides are defended by the extremely steep scarp slope). The entrance was defended by two stone guard chambers (see excavation reports in the Links section for detail).

Just outside the entrance is square embanked enclosure containing a “barrow”. Accounts of what this may be vary:

James Dyer – “Discovering Prehistoric Archaeology” (Shire 2001) states that it may be the site of a celtic shrine.

L.V. Grinsell – “Gloucestershire Barrows” (Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch. Soc. 1960) states: “probably a small round barrow in a roughly square enclosure ... square enclosure may be an 18th century tree-clump enclosure”.

Tim Darvill – “Prehistoric Gloucestershire” (Alan Sutton Publishing 1987) mentions the similarities between the barrow and Iron Age burial structures in Yorkshire and Humberside.

Cheltenham Council – Leckhampton Hill Management Plan states: “This site is part of Scheduled Ancient Monument number 46 and survives as an extremely rare round barrow, a burial mound, within a square enclosure, believed to date from the Iron Age 800BC – 43AD”

From the Carn Brea parish website:

“GREGWARTHA MANOR BARROWS
Private property Originally a group of 4 ranging
from 82ft/25m to 138ft/42m diameter but one
now destroyed.”

Visiting the site it seems too far down the slope of the hill to be a traditional “hillfort” – according to the Cotswold District Council local plan, it is listed as “Hillfort 320m NE of Castle Barn Farm” on the list of Scheduled Ancient Monuments for the district.