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This little known hillfort to the north of Swindon is something of an enigma, it is on private land though apparently frequented by local dog walkers. Although privately owned it is under the jurisdiction of English Heritage.

It came to my attention last week as the farm owners want to change the current footpath route and put a fence across the hillfort to protect their pedigree cattle. The footpaths officer from the local Ramblers group has visited and talked to the owners though the outcome is still uncertain. I will try to walk up there myself soon to get a better idea of the visual impact this would have.

Ulster Museum came a close second (I’d have been happy to see it win). Even happier that the count has now been checked and verified and the wonderful Ashmolean has actually won.

artfundprize.org.uk/2010/vote/poll-results-final.php

Many thanks to anyone who voted via the News section on TMA.

EDIT: Tuesday 20th July
Visited the Ashmolean today and was told that although they won the popular vote the prize was actually awarded by the judges to Ulster. No one seemed to mind as the consensus was that the Ulster Museum is brilliant and deserved to win.

Old news really ... but I seemed to have missed it.
bbc.co.uk/news/10464899

Ramblers Scotland is backing a petition to force a Scottish Government review on unsightly vehicular hill tracks and electrified deer fencing in the Scottish countryside. “Neither requires planning permission and both cause scars on our wild landscapes” says Helen todd, Ramblers Scotland’s development officer. The e-petition was launched by Peter Peacock MSP with the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, and can be signed by visiting
www.ramblers.org.uk/scotland/ourwork_scotland/countryside/Planning

(I’ve just signed the petition/ Hilltracks campaign)

A while back, I posted something about the Art Fund Prize with a list of shortlisted museums; I found this update on their Facebook site this morning. Hope it makes sense!

“Double win for Ashmolean as it scoops share of £75,000 Art Fund Collect funding pot and makes Art Fund Prize shortlist!

The Ashmolean is one of five museums to win a share of £75,000 to buy their selected object thanks to Art Fund Collect, an initiative aimed at championing contemporary craft and increasing its presence in UK collections. Art Fund Collect is run by membership charity the Art Fund and the Crafts Council, the national development agency for contemporary craft in the UK.

Timothy Wilson, Keeper of Art at the Ashmolean, is one of five winners of Art Fund Collect. He selected Calm Contortion Wine Cooler, 2008 by Ndidi Ekubia for £28,500. This large-scale, tactile vessel is made from hammer-raised Britannia silver. Manchester-born Ekubia is recognised as an outstanding young talent, following in the footsteps of renowned silversmith Hiroshi Suzuki.

News of this win comes one day after it was announced that the Museum has also made the shortlist of the prestigious £100,000 Art Fund Prize.”

Vote for your favourite museum or gallery

artfundprize.org.uk/2010/vote/

My vote is going to the Ashmolean in Oxford.

ashmolean.org/

Pertinent to an earlier news item – Honouring the Ancient Dead, this is interesting.

sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100211111549.htm

Lecture- ‘The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles’ by Professor Ronald Hutton on Wednesday 10th February at 7.30pm, with an approximate end time of 9pm.

The event is being held at:
The Powell Lecture Theatre,
University of Bristol,
HH Wills Physics Laboratory, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL

This lecture is now fully booked with a waiting list.
NB: I have just had to cancel my place so if anyone wanted to go and couldn’t get a place, you might want to contact the person below asap.

Lynda Bryant
Events Officer
Bristol’s Museums, Galleries & Archives Service
Tel: 0117 903 6173

Acknowledgement to Rhiannon who made the original post regarding lecture.

Mike Pitts presents a Radio 4 programmme on Sunday 7th February at 1.30pm.

Looking at metal detecting and night hawking

Edit 3/2/2010:
Further to the above information which I heard mentioned on the radio last night, I have just noticed that more detailed info has been posted on the Heritage Action Journal.

heritageaction.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/in-pursuit-of-treasure/

Just heard programme 4 in this series (on Radio 4 – 9.45am).

The word fascinating truly applies as this morning it was about the Swimming Reindeer mammoth tusk carving which was found in a cave in central France. The presenter uses the ability and the desire to make art as the landmark indicator for the ‘modern man’ species.

bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/DyfP6g6dRN6WdwdnbIVbPw

It would be difficult to catch all of the programmes as I think they are dotted around the schedules – this morning’s was a treat.

Watched this excellent programme earlier this evening – presented by professor Iain Stewart he looks at how geology, geography and climate have influenced humankind, starting with fault lines.

He also visits the first malachite/copper mines in the Timna Valley and relates this to Bronze Age civilizations and trade routes i.e. the Minonean island of Crete.

bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qbvyc

Very good!

Yesterday, whilst attending a small local event I spoke to a man called Chris Park. He looked familiar – I had seen him before at the annual Forest Festival.

This is his web-site which is just lovely to look at. I didn’t ask but am fairly sure he was one of the people behind the replica roundhouse at Barbury Castle.

acorneducation.com/homepage.html

The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society has written to Judy Howles the Area Development Officer at Wiltshire Council in Salisbury with the following comments:
*****
(25 November 2009)
Stonehenge Visitor Centre Planning Application: S/2009/1527/FULL

We write to comment on the Application. This covering letter provides an overview of our response
(attached) with reference to that document.
The Society has supported the preservation and presentation of Stonehenge for over a century (Section 2).
The Society agreed a formal position on the Stonehenge Visitor centre at its AGM in October 2009 and support for that position and concerns about the proposed site are specified in Sections 4, 5 and 6. In summary the Society welcomed the positive step forward taken by English Heritage in preparing proposals for a new Visitor Centre, but would prefer the Visitor Centre to be located outside the World Heritage Site and on brownfield land. There are a number of aspects that we welcome and warmly support including:

• the closure and grassing-over of the A344
• the removal of visitor facilities and car parking from the vicinity of Stonehenge
• the proposal for a new visitor transit route that will not require the construction of new roads within the World Heritage Site
• the closure to certain motorised vehicles of Byways 11 and 12
We have a number of concerns and make suggestions which we feel will improve the scheme and address some of the issues that we raise in our response:

• Additional screening of the proposed visitor facilities
• Reduction in the height of the visitor centre building
• Minimising the long term impact of the visitor centre by retaining existing slopes
• Minimising light pollution

We suggest that the application is accepted in part, but that a decision is deferred to allow Council Officers to negotiate amendments along the lines we suggest above, so that the scheme may proceed without substantial delay.
********
Apologies if this is ‘old news’ but some may not be aware of it.

The new Ashmolean Museum in Oxford was opened to the public last weekend 7/8th November.

Today, I had some spare time and as it was wet and windy it was a perfect day to visit. The ground floor is given over to the Ancient World. Unfortunately the European Prehistory room is not ready yet (I was told to give it another month). I spent some time in the ‘Italy before Rome’ room, looking at the Etruscan alphabet among many other things.

A marvellous resource and a beautiful building:

Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
University of Oxford
Beaumont Street
Oxford OX1 2PH

Tel: 01865 278000
ashmolean.org

Free admission: Tuesday – Sunday 10am-6pm
Bank Holiday Monday: 10am-6pm
(Closed Monday except BH)

Here we go again ...

dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2009/11/03/exclusive-scots-treasure-hunter-finds-2000-year-old-lost-trove-worth-1m-86908-21794028/

I have just been lucky enough to have been loaned a hardback copy of John Michell’s final work (he died this year on 24th April).

Titled:
HOW THE WORLD IS MADE – the story of creation according to Sacred Geometry

By John Michell with Allan Brown

Published by Thames and Hudson

ISBN 978-0-500-51510-5

I will definitely be buying my own copy as it has 344 illustrations (341 in colour) many of which are hand drawn. It is a beautiful book and a fitting tribute to John Michell.

The book has been reviewed for Fortean Times by writer and musician Steve Marshall who also wrote the last interview with John Michell for the Fortean Times.

It can be purchased in paperback here:

play.com/Books/Books/4-/10662446/How-The-World-Is-Made/Product.html

Brilliant news for the people of Swindon; for admirers of Richard Jefferies; and lovers of rural England in general.

The hard fought battle to save the land adjacent to Coate Water Country Park has been won ... for now anyway. Well done to Jean Saunders (from the Richard Jefferies Society) and Felicity Cobb who together, with others, spear-headed the long campaign.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/8187780.stm

This also safeguards the small stone circle which is in a field off Dayhouse Lane.

(And thanks to PeteG for bringing the news to my attention).