Cursuswalker

I loved this place, though I don’t especially know why.

It felt very isolated, mostly explained by not being actually ON the Ridgeway or any public right of way, and I saw no one else there, despite staying for a while.

The path starts at the B4192 at SU218804. After climbing the hill you are directed around the side of a field on a permitted path.

The strange thing is that from the M4 Liddington looks quite nearby. The view north is dominated by urban sprawl of Swindon, and the new hospital was going up, which totally dominated the view. It must do so even more now it’s finished.

I wouldn’t have minded so much if I could have seen the County Ground...

There is a plaque at the north-eastern entrance, which reads:

“LIDDINGTON HILL
THE HILL LOVED OF
RICHARD JEFFRIES
AND
ALFRED WILLIAMS”

It’s probably just as well they can’t see the view now...

When I passed this site on the South Downs Way all I could see was this one mound, which looks like a round barrow. But it is referred to in the plural on the OS map and has a nearby pub named after it, so that’s good enough for me

These are stuck in the middle of a field south east of Alton Barnes and you wouldn’t look twice at them normally. But the fact remains that these are the southernmost visible traces of this ancient route.

All you can see is some raised ridges in a field.

Just to the north you can actually join the Ridgeway for the first time (unless you feel like hopping into the field!) while walking through Alton Priors, at SU110622, though the official beginning of the Southern Ridgeway is signposted just north of the village, at the start of the climb up to Adam’s Grave (SU110623).

This barrow, more oval than long really and possibly an example of a transitional style, lies in the middle of Lewes golf-course and is used as a hazard on one of the holes, so you visit at your own peril...

It is visible throughout much of the town, with its distinctive dug-out shape.

See also the Tump: themodernantiquarian.com/post/24106

I’ve been to this place many times. The barrow itself is a little difficult to make out as a long barrow, once you are actually standing on it, but the view will make up for this!

The visit that stands out is when I reached it from the east on my walk of the South Downs Way on 17th April 1999.

I had reached Bo-Peep Bostal car park just as a hail and thunder storm started, and waited there for it to pass. Thinking it had passed, I carried on on my way, only to hear more thunder approaching just as I was approaching the Giant’s Grave. This meant I was in the middle of a thunderstorm and just about to reach the highest point for many miles around.

I stood there nervously, wondering whether or not to throw myself to the ground (This would have been very sensible I have since discovered!).

Eventually the thunder and lightening passed and I carried on. My photo of the Giant’s Grave was taken just as the clouds parted and the sun came out. I had miles of downland all to myself, as the storm had cleared the whole South Downs Way for two miles either way, as walkers legged it back to their cars.

Standing there on top of the barrow, relieved and completely on my own, with melting hail glistening in the surprisingly warm sun, was an incredible time, especially with the views of the Way for miles to the west that had just come into view as I reached the summit.

To the east Windover Hill was white with hail, as the storm had reached it by then.

Truly a memory worth getting wet for…

Not an impressive Long Barrow, in terms of its definition within the landscape, but it does cover quite an area.

It occupies its own enclosure within scrub growth along the South Downs Way and is easy to miss. Stand upon it and look at the view east and it’s easy to see why it was put here.

A small collection of round barrows, of average size for this part of East Sussex, that lie at the junction between the South Down’s Way and the southern spur of the bostal from Kingston to the top of the ridge.

From here the view of Lewes and the surrounding area is beautiful. I can only assume some of the first chieftains of whatever settlement lay where Kingston is now were buried here.

In 1999 it is from this spot, while on my walk to Wiltshire, that I diverted from the South Down’s Way along the path to Kingston, to the grave of my grandfather in Lewes, taking a sprig of gorse to leave there.

Not a visually exciting site this one. But still good to know you stand on ground that, at one time, held a special meaning. It’s also strange to think that the Romans, when they were laying nearby Stane Street, probably had not the slightest clue this site was here.

The South Down’s Way meets the Roman road at Bignor Hill car park. Diverting off the Way south, then south west along the Monarch’s Way, takes you right through the centre of the enclosure.

On your right the south western third of the site is delineated by scrubland, presumably cleared from the interior of the site for archaeology in 1983. The treeline, therefore, marks the edge of the enclosure.

On the left, the north eastern two thirds of the site lie in an open field, and seem invisible, though it is only in this part that remains of the enclosure seem to have been recorded.

Entering the enclosure from the north west, at SU974126, one walks over a very low rise in the ground, which is the only original physical sign of the enclosure I could make out.

What can I say about the Long Man him/herself?

At first sight, up close, it will be a disappointment, consisting, as it does, of concrete blocks painted white. For me the real delights of this site lie above him on Windover Hill, and I have added these as associated sites.

The best way to experience the Long Man, in my view, is to sit on the flat platform to his/her right, formed from the spoil of a small chalk pit, and picnic/chill/meditate/whatever takes your fancy and involves sitting there.

This is a site where I have attended many open druid rituals and it is a wonderful setting. After a while those concrete blocks begin to speak to you….

On the return leg of our holiday we visited the Hill of Tara, which is incredible. A complete jumble of sites, reflecting a rich history and prehistory. I cannot thank our guide enough, as he went out of his way to give us the “extra” tour after the quick version he had to give a coach party. He was clearly in love with the place.

This is a rich and extensive site that surpassed my expectations completely.
It is almost as if someone decided to move a whole jumble of ancient sites to the top of a hill that is invisible from the countryside around it.

I’ll be back...

There is nothing to see inside the King’s Seat, apart from a good view of Cormac’s House.
It is not contemporary with Cormac’s House and was built, I understand, in Christian times.

The weird figure eight formed by the proximity of the King’s Seat and Cormac’s House is fascinating. Within the pre-Christian Cormac’s House stands the Lia Fail and a memorial gravestone to the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
Formerly a statue of St. Patrick stood here, in triumphant celebration of the defeat of the Heathens. When an attempt was made to take it away for renovation it fell apart, so a competition was held for local children to design another statue to stand by the path leading to the Hill of Tara.
Some locals disapproved of the resulting statue, due to his skirt not being long enough, so they pulled it down. A bog-standard St. Patrick now stands by the path instead, “biding his time” as a non-catholic local said to me on the Hill.

Meanwhile, Cormac’s House remains Patrick free…