Model of Wayland Smiths Cave (i.e. pre restoration). 3 miles from Shrivenham Station (Berkshire).
wysefool
A wooden replica of Wayland’s Smithy.
Wayland’s Smithy Restoration in the 1960s. Richard Atkinson and Stuart Piggott.
PDF file containing plan diagrams and textual info from digs. M Avery, 1982?
showing the old flint mines at the top edge of the Devils Punchbowl.
‘There is an unusual concentration in the village of sarsen stones, including a ring of twelve which form the foundations on which the towers of both the present church and of its medieval predecessor were built, and two close to the wooden bridge over the river at Berry Lane. According to local folklore, the twelve stones originally stood as an upright circle on a mound near the site of the church. A Charter granted in the year 972 AD, in the reign of King Edgar, refers to an ‘Egsanmor’ (slaughter stone) at Twyford. It is from bits of evidence such as these that the legend evolved of a Druidic religious site having existed in the village in pre-Roman times – perfectly plausible, given the proximity of Bronze Age (ca 1500 BC) and Iron Age (ca 1 AD) settlements on the hill later named after St Catherine and on Twyford Down.‘
Information on Dragon Hill, including:
In a 10th century charter, the hill is given its original name of Eccles Beorh, that is ‘Church Barrow’. This may suggest that a Christian religious building once stood on the summit.
There was a geophysical survey conducted in 1990 to identify the early medieval chapel that once stood on dragon hill.
nice piccy of the aldbourne cup found in the barrows.
also
stone-circles.org.uk/stone/images/incense%20cup2.jpg
another piccy of the cup
Photographs of the Aldbourne blowing stone, from Liminae.
good information site about events at Sinodun. Loads of information for family days out.
QTVR of on top and inside the barrow.
scheduled monument record +a few relevant links
from David Nash Ford’s ‘Royal Berkshire History’ website. Article on the dating of the white horse with many pictures.
Artist pencil drawing and information including:
Chun is derived from the Cornish ‘chy-an-woone’, meaning house on the downs.
Description of the meaning of ‘Hackpen‘
‘1556 – First recorded by a churchwarden of Abingdon and mentions the establishment of a bower.‘
Reference to Robin Hood’s Bower as being a possible Sacred Grove site related to Cernunnos/Herne mythology.
Good information on Alfred Williams, lover of Liddington
Watton town sight: the babes and the wood, the easter hare jumping over some beer?
Babes in the Wood tale
plan view of the circle in 1722. click on ‘this album’ link for more of Avebury.
Superb Image and text explaining the Weyland myth and the connections with other myths and legends.
Two slides of the smithy from the archive of the Oxford Institute of Archaeology.
Includes the info:
‘Adwell Cop is an ancient entrenchment supposed to have been constructed by the Danes when they burnt Oxford in 1010.‘
(included here as links to change and expire)
Notes on Puck of Pooks Hill and the Sword of Weyland. Nice piccy of Mr Smith aswell.
Teutonic/Scandinavian Roots of Mr Smith. Not sure I want to go into the ‘Spae-Realms’ though, down the pub sounds like more fun. ;-)
Interesting look at how Blacksmiths are viewed as devilish in folklore and culture. Much text about the Vulcan!
some nice photos
official Icknield Way web site (encompasess the Rudge)
Text and images.
Get your paps out for the landscape!
Pusey Horn and Cherbury Camp Legend
‘Fighting to preserve the spirit of The Ridgeway‘
Brief description and some aerial photographs from the 1930’s.
Aerial photo of Hackpen Hill.
Also see
ashmolean.org/ash/amps/oha/SitePages/childrey.html
‘Various objects, including flint implements, an urn and burnt bones have been found at this site.‘
Excerpt:
‘This is apparently the only archaeological site on Port Meadow recognised prior to 1933; it is marked on the map as Round Hill. It consists of a low irregular mound, 1? ft. high and 115 ft. in diameter, somewhat disturbed on the E. side. Round it is a circular ditch, which shows on the ground on the S. side only; the complete circle has been proved by probing. Placed on the W. edge of this mound, and overlapping the ditch, is a second, smaller mound, some 45 ft. in diameter, with steep sides rising to a height of 4 ft. above the surface of the Meadow. At the top is a small crater, traces of a previous opening about which nothing is known.‘
There are some diagrams as well.
A Neolithic Oval Barrow is mentioned in the text, as well as significant bronze age remains. Site was investigated in 1933.
image of Christopher Castle’s painting of the circle
View on prehistoric metallurgy and Wayland
search down the web page and you will find:
Gallows Barrow – Figheldean, near Amesbury.
Early Bronze age oval barrow about 2400 BC.
and some information
Text by prof. David Hinton about another prof. who goes by the name of J R R Tolkein, and his travels to Wayland Smithy (and WHH and other places in the vicinity).
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Randal Graves: All right, look, there’s only one “Return,” okay, and it ain’t “of the King,” it’s “of the Jedi.”
Distant view from the road ramparts and lynchets looking across to the Iron Age Hillfort.
Nice pictures of Bronze Age Hoard found near Ashbury (somewhere on the downs)
A few nice pictures (including a plaster cast of a trench) and all three reports on the digs (as part of the hillforts of the ridgeway project).
A Romano-British Farmhouse was built inside the hillfort at a later date.
old B+W photo of Liddington. Research into habitation and structures inside hillforts and how different hillforts performed different functions. The interior of Liddington appears to have had a single roundhouse in the middle of it.