Earthstepper
This is the largest barrow in Britain and very few people know of it. This Romano-British site at Bartlow is on the Essex/Cambridgeshire border at TL 586453. Originally the largest group in Europe when there were seven enormous barrows here. Then the now disused railway came through and flattened four of them! The largest survivor is 45 feet high and the highest in Britain. The wooden staicase gives access to the top without causing erosion. You can then look down on the other two giants. Many suberb artefacts have been recovered and are now in Colchester Museum (Bartlow was formerly in Essex).
Access is via a footpath, but it is not well marked. Bartlow is a small crossroads hamlet with few houses. Look for the “Three Hills” pub and the path is beyond the entrance to the big house next door. It seems incredible that this magnifent and enormous site is so little valued locally. The largest barrrow is second only in size to Silbury Hill (excluding mottes and castle mounds) and if Bartlow were in Wilts rather than Cambs there would be hundreds of visitors every day. Go there and be amazed!
This stone looks like a palaeolithic venus figure to me and I wonder if it hasn’t been partly shaped by man. Situated opposite the church and at the head of the lane leading to a deep ford, it is garlanded on May Day when the villagers commence a procession and hold their fete in the main street. Very good show every year and worth a visit.
You are referred to an article that I wrote for the Megalithic Portal
A good aerial view of Wallbury Camp
This is my local hillfort, but it is almost impossible to get a decent photograph of it! Situated on a spur overlooking the River Stort, two banks and ditches enclose 12.5 hectares. The ramparts are still over two metres high, but absent where the steep drop to the waterlogged land by the river is a natural defence and still impassable. The fort is huge and must have been a very important defence of the Trinovantes as the territory of the Catuvellauni began across the river.
In private hands as a residential property called “Wallbury Dells”, access is limited.
Rock art discovered in East Anglia – its modern!
Interviewed on BBC Regional Television this evening, a Newage bargee admitted that he had carved the rock with a labyrinth, runes and a dragon. Mixing Viking runes with Bronze Age spirals caused the local archaeologist to comment that it was very unusual to find the two together. With no intent to fool anyone, the sculptor just wanted to do it. A photograph shows him working on the rock some time ago.
Very impressive especially as late summer turns to early autumn. This plateau fort is situated on high ground overlooking the Lea Valley. It encloses 4.5 hectares and is watered by a stream which rises inside the fort. The main bank is still more than 2 metres high and the ditch was originally 3 metres deep and nearly 7 metres wide. There are several entrances, but only the one in the west side is original.
Boudica is firmy linked to this site and local people will still tell you that “Boadicea’s Camp was where she poisoned herself after the Romans beat her”.
The image of Boudica and her daughters owes much to the statue on the Embankment at Westminster. People are familiar with the statue and will assure you that “Boadicea’s chariot had knives on the wheels which she used to chop off the Romans’ legs” When pressed further, the informant invariably maintains that the battle took place somewhere to the west and that after her army was defeated, Boadicea retreated to Ambresbury Banks where she poisoned her daughters and then herself.
The plateau fort is now in trees, but was built on high ground overlooking the Lea Valley and the batttle is supposed to have taken place in the general area of St Alban’s. The legend is very strongly held and quite unshakeable. Difficult to know if it is a long held tradition or an echo of 18th/19th century antiquarian interest.
You are referred to an article that I wrote for Megalithic Portal
You are referred to an article that I wrote for the Megalithic Portal
You are referred to an article I wrote for the Megalithic Portal
Located above the Halangy Downs courtyard house settlement and about 1500 years older, Bants Carn is a round cairn surrounded by a low wall. The entrance passage is 14ft long leading past two portal stones to the central chamber. Very easy to find from the cliff top footpath from Hugh Town.
Located on a steep slope below Bants Carn and overlooking the sea, this settlement is very similar to that at Chysauster. There is one courtyard house and other interconnected oval houses with a likely occupation period of 500 years. Romano British and so much younger than the nearby tomb of Bants Carn. Interesting to speculate on how the residents related to that ancient tomb.
Halangy Down Iron Age courtyard house settlement
This is the largest and best preserved of a group of eight on Porth Hellick Downs. It is 40ft in diameter with a 12ft passage of leading to a chamber covered with four capstones. Entrance is aligned to the Long Rock Menhir.
Situated in a stunted pine forest on Mcfarland Downs, this stone is not easy to find. Well worth the effort as it is 8 ft tall and most impressive. The branches of the tree behind give it an almost Hindu appearance. Some people clain that there is the vestige of a face carved on the top surface while others see a vulva. I just see one of my favourite standing stones.
Also known as the Mount Flagon Menhir, this stone is located by a wooden day mark and the Tudor fort of Harry’s Walls at SV 9093 1093.
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