Some of the flint nodules which make up the big barrow.
Image credit: A R Cane
A R Cane
Camping at East Dean a few weeks back I noticed on our OS map a small collection of barrows nearby just off a trackway. One of them was evidently bigger than the others as the symbol for it was a star with a surrounding dotted line. Intrigued we set off into the woods, the setting sun behind us.
Waltham Down barrow cemetery sits on the edge of the South Downs near East Dean, consisting of an arc of four reasonably large barrows and one particularly large mound. They’re quite well hidden in the deciduous forest there and it’s quite magical as you wander through and one by one they’re presented to you, but the trees were only planted just after World War Two, so it may have been quite open originally and easily seen, not too dissimilar to the relatively close ‘Devil’s Jumps’ site further West just off the South Downs Way. The largest barrow in the group is slightly isolated from the other four and has been dug into at some time and almost hollowed out, giving it the appearance of a sleeping volcano. Still standing over 2m in height it appears to be unusually constructed of flint nodules, more like a cairn than a barrow, as most barrows in this area are chalk rubble and earth constructions. We wandered around for a while and followed a sort of fossilised cart track through the woods until we came out into the opening overlooking Heath Hill, then retraced our steps through the woods into the dying rays of the setting sun.
Panorama of Stagsbury Hill. Originally a Bronze Age barrow cemetery and latterly a Medieval rabbit warren which re-used the barrows as pillow mounds.
Image credit: A R Cane
You can just about make out a small ditch and bank here which made me think I’d come across a small Iron Age enclosure at first, but apparently this was a later addition and probably supported a fence to contain the rabbits.
Image credit: A R Cane
Difficult to make out, but this is one of the more prominent barrows on the hill top with a view of Furzley beyond.
Image credit: A R Cane
The largest of 3 barrows South West of Stagsbury Hill. This is quite a large mound and probably not used as a Medieval pillow mound as far as I could tell and also retains its ditch, just.
Image credit: A R Cane
Looking South West. A bit scarred from this position.
Image credit: A R Cane
Stagsbury Hill, field system and local pony club!
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Two mutilated barrows beyond Stagsbury Hill.
Image credit: A R Cane
I love it when barrows have names even if it probably dates back only as far as the middle ages and was maybe a practice target for archers. Quite well preserved and about 2m high and 5-6m across. The structure which once stood on top has now gone and just a few scattered bricks remain, possibly consumed by rabbits.
Image credit: A R Cane
Like a small island in a sea of green grass.
Image credit: A R Cane
Still quite a pronounced ditch around it which generally fills up with water in the Winter.
Image credit: A R Cane
Interesting stone alignment next to it! Actually It’s probably something to do with the nearby former RAF Stoney Cross airfield as was the brick structure that’s now gone from the top.
Image credit: A R Cane
Wandering in Wandlebury! This is the only way to see the fort. Due to the thick vegetation (mostly yew), it’s all but invisible from a distance, but it’s quite a good size and takes about half an hour to stroll around.
Image credit: A R Cane
The stable building is all that remains from the original building within the fort. Viewed from the bank and (slightly cleared) ditch.
Image credit: A R Cane
Battlesbury, field systems and Middle Hill viewed from Scratchbury.
Image credit: A R Cane
The largest bowl barrow on the hill with one of those archaeological star sign thingammies on top.
Image credit: A R Cane
Looking West along the Southern ramparts with Cley Hill just visible on the left.
Image credit: A R Cane
The impressive earthworks (and field systems) of Battlesbury viewed from the equally magnificent ramparts of nearby Scratchbury.
Image credit: A R Cane
Aerial view with Warminster off to the left. Didn’t actually get to climb up it as we were running out of light, energy and drone battery. Impressed nonetheless.
Image credit: A R Cane/Felix Speller
Panoramic aerial view looking vaguely Northwards.
Image credit: A R Cane/Felix Speller
At the Southern end of the hill fort with a great view across the valley towards Mere.
Image credit: A R Cane
Standing on the innermost earthwork of the hill fort. The distance between the three earthworks is quite unusual you’d be pushed to call the spaces in between ‘ditches’.
Image credit: A R Cane
The largest BA barrow on the hill next to the NCE.
Image credit: A R Cane
Two of the smaller barrows adjacent to the NCE and to a bit of quarrying.
Image credit: A R Cane
The faint ring of the causewayed enclosure visible to the left and foreground with three BA barrows external to it.
Image credit: A R Cane/Felix Speller
4000 years of continual usage. The Neolithic causewayed enclosure to the North followed by a Bronze Age barrow, an Iron Age cross dyke and the IA hill fort to the South.
Image credit: A R Cane/Felix Speller
The earthworks at the Southern end of Whitesheet Hill. The saucer-like barrow in the centre of the fort might well be relatively modern.
Image credit: A R Cane/Felix Speller
Well-known for its World Heritage Sites of Stonehenge and Avebury, the prehistoric monuments of Wiltshire have long provided a focus of attention for archaeologists and visitors alike. Today the Wiltshire sites are perceived as an important focal point in British prehistory.
Yet there is much more to the prehistory of Wiltshire than Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury Hill. The latter sites are of course all here, and discussed with personal insight, but so too are the widespread fields and enclosures of the Bronze Age that established a template across the countryside for later generations to follow, and the enormous hillforts of the Iron Age that stand sentinel-like overlooking the chalkland river valleys. Interesting sites abound, particularly on the wide expanses of uncultivated downland, and these provide a remarkable insight into past societies, economy and settlement. Prehistoric impact on the landscape was huge and the archaeology reveals the nature of development and changes across the countryside.
This volume provides an up-to-date account of the prehistory of Wiltshire from the earliest evidence for human occupation to the influence on the Romano-British countryside; it outlines the effect of past climate change on the topography and how animals and people established the landscape that we know today. The story is one of exuberant but excessive monument building, of innovation potentially fuelled by competition to impress, and of the struggle to subsist.
- See more at: amberley-books.com/prehistoric-landscapes-of-wiltshire.html
Scrub clearance reveals the extent to which the perimeter earthworks have been mauled and diminished over the centuries.
Image credit: A R Cane
Looking SE from the SE corner of the enclosure. The huge ridge dyke is hidden within the trees and bushes on the left in the distance.
Image credit: A R Cane
The (recently cleared) enclosure, known as St. George’s Church yard on East Hill.
Image credit: A R Cane
I called here on my way to my parents near Swindon and hadn’t been here for more than 20 years prior to this. It’s very easy to locate owing to the Lansdowne Monument, a 38m stone obelisk on Cherhill Down visible from both the A4 and the A361. Because of its proximity to Avebury, Silbury Hill, West Kennet Long Barrow, et al., the area is littered with sites from the Neolithic to the Iron Age and also includes more recent works like the white horse cut in 1780. I parked at the run off East of the hill fort in what must have been the Old Bath Road before it was metalled and straightened somewhat and made my way past the gallops and up towards the top of the Down. The path isn’t very obvious from this direction, but you do get to see a lot of earthworks which may, or may not, be connected with the hill fort. Some may be hut circles or animal pens, others might be dew ponds or slightly unambitious chalk quarries. Reaching the South East corner (it’s not round!) of the hill fort you get great views of the surrounding hills to the South and West including the linear Bronze Age barrow groups on Morgans Hill and also an impression of the scale of the mighty banks and ditches of the fort itself. Early evening is almost always the best time to visit these kind of sites, particularly if you have low raking sunlight. It brings out the best definition and colour in the landscape and makes it almost heartbreakingly beautiful and, for me, tinged with nostalgia. Moving around the earthworks in a clockwise direction you come past the Lansdowne Monument and get a good view of the long barrow, the oldest element in the vicinity, standing on a slight promontory just below it. By this time it’s becoming clear that the Western horizon is filling with rain clouds and so I head North East again taking in the white horse and then exit via the hill fort’s Eastern opening descending back towards the A4. As you get to the bottom of this track you’ll notice a fine barrow in the corner of a field (Cherhill 4 – not very romantic is it?) and if you turn right you’re back on the Old Bath Road track which is where the parking place is. By now the weather was going into overdrive and though the torrential downpour I’d been anticipating hadn’t yet materialised, the sky was now leaden and a fantastic rainbow appeared at the end of the track urging me onwards. Before you get to the parking spot there’s another large barrow right beside the track which, although I didn’t notice at the time, has a World War Two bunker built into the North side of it. This makes strategic sense in terms of the now disused Yatesbury airfield just the other side of the A4. I reach my car just in the nick of time as the raindrops descend. What luck! What weather! What poetry!
Earthworks on the South Western side. One of the Morgans Hill linear BA barrow groups just visible in the distance to the left.
Image credit: A R Cane
A tremendous amount of upheaval in the landscape here.
Image credit: A R Cane
The view down to the long barrow, slightly left of centre.
Image credit: A R Cane
A modern (1780!) interloper on this ancient landscape.
Image credit: A R Cane
The Eastern opening in the fort’s defences.
Image credit: A R Cane
Approaching the barrow along the Old Bath Road track.
Image credit: A R Cane
There’s more to this than meets the eye.
Image credit: A R Cane