thesweetcheat

Visited 28 January 2023. The first site on a grey winter’s day of urban prehistory visits around the north and west of Bristol city centre.

Arriving from the northeast, along a muddy footpath mostly frequented by dog-walkers, this is a very impressive sight as it appears through the trees.

A fine, upstanding barrow, I’d be very chuffed to find something as well-preserved as this in most rural places I visit. Here the urban setting means it lacks much sense of place, but it’s still a very decent barrow.

I really like the steel sculpture that’s been placed close by, it gives the site a feeling of continuity, that somehow it still means something even as the suburbs have grown around it.

From here I head off to Henbury to visit the first hillfort of the day.

Visited 23 January 2023.

After leaving Bradlow Knoll and making my way down from Frith Hill, I approach Kilbury Camp from the north. The OS map shows a confused series of earthworks, most of which don’t join up. It looks like there’s a small hilltop enclosure, with a much larger area enclosed by a couple of lines of ramparts around the base of the hill.

From the road to northwest, some traces of a rampart can be seen following the modern field boundaries. A helpful footpath leads me directly up to the corner of the hilltop enclosure from the west. There are indications of a low earthwork along the west and south of this inner enclosure, but much of the site goes into a fenced-off woodland area and I haven’t the energy to engage with trying to get into it.

Instead I follow the footpath eastwards, which crosses the southern part of the larger site. Dropping down to the next field boundary there are indications of an earthwork under the hedge, but there’s little to see. There are excellent views of the southern part of the Malvern Hills, particularly British Camp and Midsummer Hill which reward the visit and give the site some great landscape context.

Barbed wire bars a walk northwards along the rampart, so I decide to content myself with this part of the site. I don’t think there’s going to be a great deal more to see for the effort involved in further exploration.

Heading back to the road, I can see what appears to be two quite well-defined lines of bank and ditch along the southwest of the wider site. Unfortunately this area has been incorporated into a domestic site, in which a line of caravans and motor boats have been parked. It’s frustrating, as this appears to be the best-preserved part of the ramparts. I manage to get a further look at it from the road to the southwest where there’s a covered reservoir site, but that’s the best I can do without seeking permission for a closer look.

All in all, despite the limited archaeology it’s been worth scratching the itch of coming here, especially on such a lovely winter’s day. Another Herefordshire hillfort and somewhere I’ve been meaning to make the effort to visit for a long time.

Visited 23 January 2023. Taking a spontaneous break of train journey at Ledbury, I walk up the steep, winding lane to Bradlow, then an even steeper footpath up the hill beneath humming pylons.

The January afternoon is sunny but hazy, the views back down to Ledbury all soft blues and greens. May Hill inevitably looms on the skyline south. By the time I reach the treeline and “Chris Johnson’s Bench” I’m quite out of breath, my slow winter recovery from Covid not yet behind me. After sitting for a while I head onwards into the trees, a set of rough steps leading up towards the Knoll.

The Knoll itself turns out to be a rounded mound on the southwestern end of the summit ridge of Frith Hill. It could very well be natural, but there’s certainly the possibility of a round barrow, and the “low” part of the name adds credence to the idea.

It’s quite lovely in the woods, although the trees block the views from what would be a quite prominent viewpoint. I walk the length of the summit ridge, then follow paths down to Upper Mitchell Farm. Emerging from the woods on the eastern side of the hill there are terrific views of the southern Malverns, taking in British Camp and Midsummer Hill. From here I head off to visit Kilbury Camp.