Old Sarum

Old Sarum is an Iron Age hillfort just north of Salisbury, later adapted into a Norman motte and bailey castle which contained Salisbury’s first cathedral. Salisbury, only a few miles from Stonehenge, has long been considered one of Britain’s most special spiritual places and this stretches back far into prehistory.

The outer bank of the fort.

The fort is on a natural hill which has commanding views over the Avon valley and surrounding area, and draws the eye from miles around. It was an ideal spot for an Iron Age statement of command and power.

The Iron Age ditch and two banks, which enclose an area around 400m diameter, were cleared and redug in Norman times, the reason for their incredible preservation. A visit is recommended just to see how the vast ditches of places such as Avebury and many other hillforts would have looked before thousands of years of erosion and infilling. Standing on the bank and looking into the thirty-metre deep ditch is a vertigo-inducing experience to say the least. It was about more than simple defence. It was a statement of power.

Old Sarum’s ditch. The very small sheep gives an indication of scale. 

Ironically, little more is known of the early site. The Norman reconstruction which preserved the ditches removed everything else. The fort was first built around 400BC, and occupation continued into the Roman period, where it became known as Sorviodunum. Five Roman roads converge at Salisbury which illustrates the site’s importance. Some of these roads were in use long before the Romans arrived, and may even date back to the Neolithic period, which marks the earliest occupation of the site.

The view east from the bank. The Roman road leading towards London is visible.

Salisbury marks the confluence of five rivers, the Avon, Nadder, Bourne, Ebble and Wylye, which would make it a hugely important place in the time when rivers were the main mode of transport and also the most important landmarks when travelling across a land devoid of manmade features. This is likely a big factor in Sarum’s continuing practical and spiritual importance.

The confluence of the Avon and the Nadder.

Sarum was captured from the British by the Saxons and then abandoned until invading Vikings forced its reoccupation. Saxon mercenaries who guarded the junction of the Roman roads lived and were buried nearby, and other rich Saxon burials were found close to the foot of the fort, including that of a sixth-century woman who was buried with elaborate grave goods including a purse ring made of elephant ivory, blue glass beads and a copper brooch. This high-status woman, who had trade links stretching as far as Africa, illustrates the continuing importance of this district, two thousand years after Wessex had become the richest land in Britain.

It is from this period that the name derives. Sarum is an adaptation of Seresberie, a late Saxon-period burgh and Royal Mint. This later evolved into Salisbury. The prefix Sar or Sear is probably a pre-Saxon personal name.

The Medieval castle, cathedral and town.

The fortified town of Old Sarum and its cathedral were later moved south to New Sarum, or Salisbury town, and the ancient site was abandoned to the wilderness.

The view south towards Salisbury. The new cathedral is visible.

Meon Hill Iron Age Fort

The wide-ranging view from Meon Hill.

Meon Hill, a prominent hill in south Warwickshire, is the location of an Iron Age hill fort, likely built on an earlier Bronze Age site. The hill is formidably steep with a wide, flat top, and the surrounding ditches and banks, positioned to make full use of the topology, are still several metres deep in places. Little modern excavation work has been done but quantities of Bronze Age, Iron Age and Romano-British finds including pottery and worked stones have been found.

Meon Hill dominates the surrounding landscape and offers commanding views for several miles in almost every direction. Similar to other hill sites, it was designed to be seen. The nearby Ilmington Hill, which is much larger and much more sprawling, has no such eye-catching dominance and although it harbours several ancient features, there is nothing of such dramatic presence.

             The still prominent ramparts

Meon has a powerful atmosphere. A deep sense of magic infuses the hill, and it’s unsurprising that Meon Hill is prominent in local folklore.

Tradition states that the Devil lives beneath it, and rides out on dark nights with his pack of infernal hounds. This is almost certainly a Christianised version of the much older Gwyn ap Nudd, the Celtic ruler of the underworld who was associated with prominent hills and was master of the Cwn Annwfn, a pack of spectral hounds. Gwyn was later synonymised with the Devil.

This story may have arisen due to the spectacular remains of the now long-forgotten site, or perhaps it originated when the site was in occupation and Gwyn was still commonly revered. Perhaps powerful Druids commanded this site.

A more sinister story comes from the 1940s. A farm worker called Charles Walton was found dead on the hill with a pitchfork through his neck. The story was quickly linked to witchcraft. Charles was said to have been murdered because of his link to the Devil. Spectral black dogs were also associated with the crime.

Despite a lengthy police investigation, the murder was never solved, but the story adds to the powerful sense of magic many people feel here.

Uffington Castle

This is an Iron Age hill fort in Oxfordshire, close to the prehistoric Uffington White Horse, and built around 600-700BC on the foundations of an earlier Bronze Age site. This is very common. The ‘Age’ may have changed but the same people and their descendants remained.

The term of ‘hill fort’ is something of a misnomer: it was applied by 18^th century antiquaries to almost any construction on a hill and there is little evidence that many were indeed forts.

View from Uffington Castle

Its prominent location on a hillside, with far-reaching views across the surrounding vales, shows its purpose. It was intended to be seen. Even today, 2500 years after it was constructed, the embankments and ditches stand proud from the hill and proclaim to every passer-by for miles: this place is ours.

The surrounding ditches, dug by hand with basic tools, are several metres deep. Look at the people in the background of the photo for a size comparison. This would need a workforce of hundreds for several months. The soil was used to construct banks on either side and the innermost bank had a stone parapet. A stunning display of might from a distance; even more so close up. It is far more work than necessary for simple defence: it’s a symbol of power and control, intended to impress.

Uffington Castle’s impressive ditches.

The ditches may be reminiscent of the older henges and enclosures – Avebury is only a few miles away – which had impressively deep ditches and would have been well known to the Iron Age people as ancient and magical sites. In the earlier cases, the surrounding water had spiritual significance; whether this was understood by the Iron Age builders or whether it was simply a display of mundane power, is unclear.

The site was occupied for several centuries and also had significance in the Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. Graves and a shrine from these periods have been found. By this point, the impressive and now long-unoccupied site had probably acquired mythic or magical status, and was treated as such.