Thursday, April 05, 2018

We were at Burrington Camp today

From Wikipedia:
"Burrington Camp, also known as Burrington Ham, is an Iron Age hill fort in the North Somerset district of Somerset, England. The hill fort is situated in the Mendip Hills approximately 0.6 miles (0.97 km) south from the village of Burrington.

The camp overlooks Burrington Combe, where there have been archaeological discoveries of cemeteries, demonstrating a very long human occupation of the area. The hill fort has an oval shape and is univallate.

The name "Burrington Ham" was commonly used for the hill fort before the 20th century. At that time, the camp was sometimes thought to be a Roman one and was also associated with the Druids."

The eastern entrance to the camp (from the inside)

The inner rampart (east side - we're looking south)

The northern rampart, facing towards Bristol

From the outside, looking west to the camp and the Severn estuary

According to the information board, the interior has been excavated but no significant archaeology has been found: its purpose is a mystery. It would have been created by the Beaker people, those highly-admixtured steppe warriors who replaced 90% of indigenous Britons around 2,500 BC.

Here's the local information board, about 50 yards from the entrance. Click to enlarge.



It is believed the camp was constructed somewhere between 500-1,000 BC. Here's a video from inside the hillfort.



Not "Alex and Adrian contemplating the camp", but Alex and Clare.



We're at the information board: Burrington Camp is behind us. It's 8 degrees - warmer than for a while.

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