Witts's Ancient Camps - Leckhampton Camp

A further extract from the Archaeological Handbook of the County of Gloucester by George Witts published by G. Norman, Clarence Street Cheltenham, n.d. (1883):

"No. 64. — Leckhampton Camp. On Leckhampton Hill, two miles out of Cheltenham, there is an interesting work of some magnitude. The point of the hill overlooking the valley of the Severn has been cut off by an entrenchment, consisting, for the greater part of the distance, of a single mound nine feet high, with each end resting on the escarpment. About 50 yards from the northern precipice there are two entrances through the entrenchments, one leading into the main portion of the camp, and another, at a much lower level, leading into a deep depression running nearly parallel with the edge of the rocks. Along the line of the entrenchments from these entrances to the escarpment there is a considerable ditch, outside the bank. On the old Ordnance Survey a bank is shown parallel to the northern escarpment of the hill. This has possibly been destroyed by quarrying operations. Professor Buckman, in his "Corinium," speaks of a true Roman well existing in the centre of the camp, sunk through the various strata of the oolitic rock down to the clay beneath. I can find no trace of this, but there are one or two likely-looking hollows in which a little excavation might be interesting. On the outside of the camp, towards the east, is a remarkable round barrow, 4 feet high and 35 feet in diameter; this is protected by a mound 70 feet square and 2 feet 6 inches high. At a distance of over 300 yards from the main position is another line of earthworks, consisting of a single bank, in some places five feet high, running on a curved line, and thus enclosing a very large area, probably for flocks and herds. Several relics of antiquity have been found on Leckhampton Hill, including a bronze helmet, spear-heads, coins, pottery, flint arrow-heads, &c.; and some human skeletons have been discovered at various times. 

See "Archaeologia," vol. XIX, p171. Also "Archaeological Journal," vol. XII, p9. Also Bigland's "History of Gloucestershire," vol.II, p148. Also Buckman's "Corinium," p5. Also "Proceedings Cott. Nat. Field Club," vol. VI, p209. Also "Journal of Archaeological Association," vol.I, p43.Also "Transactions Bristol and Glou. Archae. Soc.," 1879‑80, p206."

More statistics ...

More than 2,000 readers have now read more than 5,000 pages on the blog: just under two thirds from more than 100 towns and cities in the UK and another 30% mainly from the US (Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Virginia, Missouri, California) and Cyprus. Recent inspections include readers in Benin, Colombia, India, Greece, Italy and Croatia.  Oddly enough, they don't stay for long or come back often! No-one resident in Antarctica has yet shown an interest: this is probably fair enough.  Tough journey back from there to the Hill.  But we have the other continents covered...

StatCounter tells me that readers enjoy downloading photos from the blog and you have made more than 400 downloads to date: nearly all the pictures people are downloading are ones sent in by Crickley people. A tiny handful are of copyright material where I have been careful to seek the permission of the copyright owners before posting them on the blog. I would only ask, please, that if you reproduce or pass on any of the copyright material that you acknowledge the copyright. Anything that falls into this class can easily be spotted as I will have credited it in the text of the post and also in the © labels at the bottom of the relevant post.

The Ullenwood Bunker entrance

Courtesy of English Heritage National Monuments Record, from the July 1999 'Cold War project' Michael Hesketh Roberts series: the entrance to the Ullenwood bunker: amazing how dirty concrete can manage to look faintly sinister. Or is it that one knows, and has known for many years, that if ever this bleak building had proved to be needed in time of war, horrible suffering would have been inflicted on millions of people?

Hard work ...

From Jim Irvine's archive, he thinks from 1983: L to R ? (might be Malcolm White), Nigel Stilman (I believe went on to fame as designer etc for Games Workshop?) Nigel Brownjohn, Ian, Andy ? and Simon Bacon.  I think this may have been "clean up before a photograph" time.  If you look closely, the line of diggers are all on their knees just outside the cutting, working away at the very edge of the cutting.

During a wet winter, a reminder of summer ...

Again courtesy of Peter Wakely and Natural England: limestone sward with harebells (Campanula rotundifolia).  Taken at Crickley Hill in 1995.  I just thought in the depths of winter that it would be good to look forward to the warmer days.  For some pointless fantasies about harebells, see this link.  

At first I thought that harebells flowered in spring, but these looked very familiar so I checked: they flower from June to September, so, of course, the reason for my familiarity is that parts of Crickley are covered by them in the summer.

Captain Lash returns

I really had forgotten quite how excruciating is the prose style of Captain Frank Shaw.  But eBay and the Royal mail have done their work, and a copy of Captain Lash has fallen into my hot little hands.  So here goes:

"But as he parted a motley mob of American gobs on shore-leave, and built up the foundations of half-a-dozen promising fights later on by his ruthlessness; as he overturned a couple of rickshaws, and seriously annoyed a couple of monocled military officers, the girl in question disappeared.  He returned, undaunted, to where Cocky still kept one leaf of the swing door open invitingly, what time his shocking concertina made the glaring day hideous with the strains of that warning song. [sic]

"One o'them days you'll get it right where the chicken got the axe," criticised Cocky.  "Say, look here, big man, ain't you met up with enough trouble alonger skirts?  Yer never know where you are with 'em.  Likker, yes - that lands yer comferably in quod; likewise scrappin'  - but women -no!"  Lash picked him up by his collar and swung him into the saloon; crashing down into a seat; stamped on the concertina and called hoarsely for a drink. Before it arrived he had a couple of the den's dancing girls on his knees, and as the schooners of beers slid along the table, he had the two corybantes engaged in a jealous and shrill-voiced argument.  Drinking down his liquor - and Cocky believed he heard his shipmate's throat sizzle to the cooling run - Lashed thrust a dollar apiece into the girls' ready hands, lifted them high above his head and seated them on a shelf.

"'Taint the gettin', it's the huntin'" he averred.  "Come along, little runt: let's hunt!""

It brings it all back: you can, I hope, see why nightly reading episodes became de rigueur: I can already feel the frisson of fascinated horror as one waits for the next bizarre mangled phrase ...  more soon.

Witts's Ancient Camps - Crickley Camp

An extract from the Archaeological Handbook of the County of Gloucester by George Witts published by G. Norman, Clarence Street Cheltenham, n.d. (1883):

"No. 34. — Crickley Hill Camp.

This lies one mile north of the village of Birdlip, in the parish of Cubberley, and four miles south of Cheltenham. It is protected by a mound and ditch running across the projecting height in a slightly curved line, with a second mound and ditch running parallel to the main one, and 100 yards from it. The remaining three sides of the camp are protected by the precipitous nature of the hill. The area defended is about nine acres, and the earthworks still remaining show what an important position it must have been. On the high ground to the east of the camp the defences are much stronger than they are on the lower ground as they approach the escarpment. Unlike most other camps in the county, this has a perfect entrance, defended by an advanced bank and ditch; and in the immediate neighbourhood are six round barrows and one fine long barrow. 

See "Archaeologia," vol. XIX, p170, also "Proceedings Cott. Nat. Field Club," vol. VI, p210 and also "Transactions Bristol and Glou. Archae. Soc.," 1879-80, p206."

Crickley Hill and Barrow Wake

This fine view was taken by Peter Wakely in 1995 and is by permission of Natural England (English Nature before October 2006). The picture is from the northern flank of Crickley Hill looking south west. 

How did 'The Air Balloon' get its name?

In the 1973 Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, A.P. Woolrich is mildly dismissive here in a footnote (to his paper on Joshua Gilpin's 1796-97 diary) that reads: "The Air Balloon at Crickley Hill was called the New Inn in 1782. (Glos R.O. D/CE 88(11). Contrary to popular opinion it does not commemorate a local balloon ascent (BSS)."

Well, that told us. I was fosseting about in the bowels of the internet and came across a website selling, for heaven's sake - but good luck to them - digital photographs of pub signs, amongst which are various signs that have, over the years, graced the 'Air Balloon'. This website states that the "pub's name commemorates the famous balloon flight by Edward Jenner which ended close to the building on 2nd September 1784."

I had visions of the good doctor himself whizzing about in the air: I had no recollection of him knocking spots off the brothers Montgolfier so I continued my researches. Before I started, should I perhaps have vaccinated myself against that scourge of the modern age, internet hyperbole?

My next stop was the Jenner Museum housed in his former house which has the following:
"Edward Jenner's lifelong friend, the physician Caleb Hillier Parry, probably carried out the first flight of an unmanned balloon in the West Country. He launched a hydrogen balloon from the Crescent in Bath on 10th January 1784. It was 17ft in diameter and 8.5ft high, made of varnished silk. It flew 19 miles, landing just west of Wells. Determined to try the experiment for himself, Edward Jenner wrote to Parry requesting a length of silk and urging him to join him in Berkeley. Jenner launched his hydrogen balloon from the courtyard of Berkeley Castle at 2pm on 2nd September 1784. It flew 10 miles north eastwards, landing in a field at Kingscote, where, the Gloucester Journal reported, it terrified the reapers so much that for some time they could not be persuaded to approach it! The balloon was re-launched and drifted north along the line of the hills for a further 14 miles. Its journey ended a few miles east of Gloucester at the beauty spot known as Birdlip. The local inn, known since the 1820s as the Balloon Inn and now called the Air Balloon Inn, may well commemorate this exciting event."

There is no source cited for this version of events, but we know from Joshua Gilpin's diary that the inn had changed its name from the New Inn in 1782 to the Balloon by 1796-7, so the 1820s reference at least is not quite on the mark. The Jenner Museum version seems to have been liberally replicated across the web by many parties.

Perhaps the most balanced, and certainly the best, light is shed by a fascinating and well researched article on the history of ballooning by John Penny, of the Fishponds Local History Society. The part of his article illuminating what is known about the 'Air Balloon' is this passage relating to developments in 1784:

"Messrs. Sharpnell and Dyer it appears proposed to launch a balloon from Stinchcombe Hill at midday on August 3rd, and as details of the event had been carried in the "Gloucester Journal" (31) it was not surprising that a large crowd had gathered in anticipation. They were, however, to be disappointed and as "Felix Farley's Bristol Journal" subsequently reported (32) "after waiting many hours in anticipation behold! nothing but a child's paper kite was exhibited. After some altercation with the company assembled, the artists thought proper to take to their heels, and so escape the lashes of the spectators whips". The exact identity of Sharpnell and Dyer is not known, but it is possible that one of them was William F.Shrapnell, surgeon to the South Gloucestershire Militia who was a close friend of the famous Edward Jenner M.D. L.L.D. F.R.S. of Berkeley (1749 - 1823), remembered with affection the world over for his discovery of vaccination as a preventative of smallpox (33).

Nevertheless, this fiasco at Dursley did nothing to dampen enthusiasm for ballooning in the southern part of Gloucestershire, for the very next month Dr.Jenner himself carried out his first aeronautical experiment, although he was careful to keep the details from the public, fearing the result of another local failure. Jenner had also been a close friend of Dr.Caleb Parry since boyhood days, when they had both attended the Rev.Dr.Washbourne's school at Cirencester (34), so it was not surprising that he should try to emulate his friend's achievements, and Parry, it seems, was happy to provide details of balloon construction. Jenner subsequently wrote to him stating, "your directions respecting the Balloon are so clear and explicit, 'tis impossible for me to blunder; but to make it quite a certainty, I intend first to fill it and see if it will float in the Castle-Hall, before the public exhibition. Should it prove unwilling to mount and turn shy before a large assembly, don't you think I may make my escape under the cover of three or four dozen Squibs and Crackers?" (35).

Caution, it appears, prevailed for on Thursday September 2nd 1784, and in private, he finally launched his hydrogen filled balloon from the Inner Court of Berkeley Castle. It was released at two o'clock in the afternoon, and later that day was seen to descend into a meadow at Symond's Hall only a short distance from Kingscote Park, at that time the residence of Anthony Kingscote Esq., father of three most eligible daughters. The balloon's arrival in the parish caused a great deal of excitement and, "the reapers were so much terrified that they could not for some time be prevailed to approached it" (36).

Jenner's ride over to retrieve his little aerostat resulted in his first meeting with Catherine Kingscote, a lady he subsequently married on March 6th, 1788, so there must have been little difficulty in persuading him to re-launch the balloon from Kingscote Park, for the benefit of the family and their friends. This was soon accomplished and in the best romantic traditions the balloon rose into the air carrying a poem, specially written by Jenner's friend Edward Gardner, and dedicated to Catherine, his new found love (37). No details have come to light regarding the balloon's fate, but it is just possible that it came to earth a little over 20 miles away on high ground near Birdlip Hill, where there still exists a public house bearing the title "Air Balloon Inn".

NOTES:
31) Gloucester Journal 2/8/1784 p3d.
32) Felix Farley's Bristol Journal 14/8/1784 p3d.
33) Fisk, Dorothy, "Doctor Jenner of Berkeley", Heinemann, London, 1959, p110.
34) Anon, "Lives of the British Physicians", Murray's Family Library, 1830, p275.
35) and Miller, Genevieve (ed), "Letters of Edward Jenner", John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, p3.
36) Gloucester Journal 6/9/1784 p3c; Fisk, pp 76-78.
37) Baron, John M.D. F.R.S., "The Life of Edward Jenner MD LLD FRS", Henry Colburn, London, 1827, p72."

So there we have it. The Jenner Museum suggests a relaunch on the same day, that ended up at Birdlip, which if it happened, eluded John Penny's researches. John Penny's account appears more likely, not least because the paraphernalia required to get the balloon in the air again would have had to be transported to Symond's Hall near Kingscote, or the balloon would have had to be brought back to Berkeley Castle. Since the first flight only started at 2 p.m. I think the Jenner Museum version begins to look implausible, if not impossible. Perhaps further research is required. I'd start with a gander at the 6th September 1784 edition of the Gloucester Journal...

Would it be too hair-splitting to suggest that John Penny's conclusion can be reconciled to A.P. Woolrich's 1973 footnote to Gilpin by the notion that the pub was named not after an ascent, but a descent, of an air balloon? I must ask Dr Ferris to share some cider with me as we mull over the possibilities.

How to use socks, trousers, gym shoes & dumper trucks to date photographs ...

Thank heavens for Bernie Dawson's hockey socks.  I have been able to use them as dating evidence to satisfy myself that this study, - forgive me, Dr Ferris - largely of legs, was taken in 1980.  The legs, L to R, belong to Ros Cleal, Dave Southwood, Terry Courtney, Philip Dixon, Jim Gale, Anna Collinge, and Bernie Dawson.  I didn't write anything on this photo, so have been searching for dating and identification clues.

The dating sequence is this.  Dr Phillpotts's Cutting AXV photograph here shows that the dumper truck(s) during the 1979 season were yellow.  I am certain from my own personal recollection, having driven the dumper trucks quite a bit, in both the 1979 and 1980 seasons, of two things: first, that there was no mid-season change of dumper trucks, second that the 1980 dumper truck was grey.  But memory can mislead, so I checked.  Bernie's dated top photo here, shows the 1980 cuttings. Four photos of mine, taken at about the same time, from the opposite end of the cutting, here, bottom photo, here and two here pan across that same cutting, in sequence from right to left. The fourth photo (the bottom one in the third link) has the dumper truck in the background and it is grey.

(I also remember having a conversation with Richard Savage about the change of truck model, comparing 1979 and 1980, as the latter model had a smaller bucket, was less powerful, and was harder to drive - it was so old that it did not have a synchromesh gearbox, which involved a different technique with the clutch.  I was pining for the superior 1979 version.  I recall Richard patiently explaining to me that reason for the inferior truck was, of course, cost: the 1979 version had been quite expensive on hire charges and the 1980 one was either cheaper or free because it was a vintage model.)  

Next step: the top photo here clearly shows Bernie Dawson sitting on a grey dumper truck wearing distinctive red and blue socks.  Doubtless, given Bernie's predilections, they were hockey socks.  Thus the legs in the right foreground of today's photo belong to Bernie, and the year is 1980.

The three sets of legs on the left are easy to identify as this photo, obviously taken at the same time, shows Ros, Dave and Terry.

The identification of the last set of legs on the right was quite tricky, but I think I've cracked it.  Step 1: this shot shows Jane Dineen eating her sandwich. Crucially, the dumper truck in the background is grey. Thus 1980. Step 2: this one, obviously taken at the same time, shows Jane eating the same sandwich: this time there is no dumper truck but Anna Collinge is sitting next to Jane wearing a pair of white trousers. Step 3: the photo at the bottom of this older post shows an empty wheelbarrow by the a hut door. Comparison with today's photo shows that the bits of paper on the hut door are the same: 1980 again. Usefully, Miss Dineen, as further corroboration, is clutching the same pair of trousers that she is wearing in the earlier sandwich photos. Note also the wheelbarrow and Mr Parry's garb.  Step 4: this photo plainly shows Mr Parry in the same clothing and Anna Collinge, sitting in the second wheelbarrow away from the hut door on the right as you look at the photo. Step 5: an additional photo from the Parker archive is needed:

This shows the bottom half of Mr Parry, in the same garb and Anna, in the same clothes as the photo in step 4.  In the bottom corner of this photo, Anna is wearing a white gym shoe, the top of which can just be glimpsed. 

The person whose legs I seek to identify in today's picture is wearing white trousers, white gym shoes and sitting in the second wheelbarrow on the right as we look at the photo.  I suggest, given that we were largely creatures of break-time habit, that there is some likelihood that Anna usually sat in the second wheelbarrow.  The balance of the evidence comes from the proof from the other two photos that during the 1980 season she had a pair of white trousers and white gym shoes.  

And that, My Lord, concludes the case for the Crown.

The detective work involved in arriving at the above conclusion has revealed a number of inadvertent dating and textual errors in earlier posts.  These I have corrected: I realised that I had misled myself twice by wrongly identifying parts of the (always) yellow JCB as the 1980 dumper truck.  Careful re-examination at enhanced magnification clearly reveals the hydraulic arms and the front shovel of the JCB backhoe loader in the top photo here, and the bucket of the eponymous backhoe in this one.  I should of course have spotted before that it couldn't be the dumper truck as it wasn't grey!  Phew!

The burning of the limestone

The piece which I posted last week from the Transactions of the Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society avers that there is no adequate explanation for the reddening of burnt oolitic limestone.  But that was published in 1925 and refers to the reddening of the limestone being mentioned in 1818 in the Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries.  An excellent explanation does, of course,  appear in "Crickley Hill: the Hillfort Defences" (Dixon 1994), in the geological chapter by R J Firman:

"An understanding of the mineralogical changes brought induced by heating limestone is thus of crucial importance in interpreting the archaeological evidence.  The most obvious indication of heating is the development of a brick red colour due to the dehydration of rust coloured ferric hydroxides leading to the formation of haematite.  It is important to note that the intensity of the red colour is unrelated to the intensity of the heating, being directly proportional to the concentration of ferric hydroxide, 'limonite', minerals in the original unburnt limestone. Moreover, in a conflagration, conditions may be sufficiently reducing, to preclude the formation of haematite: magnetite or less stable ferrous compounds forming instead.  These, when weathered, impart a grey or brownish yellow colour to the burnt limestones. Given a strong draught, limestone will calcine at temperatures of 800 to 900°C and, in still conditions 1050°C.  Masses of 'meringue-like' material in the prehistoric earthworks show that such calcination did occur, the resulting quicklime having reacted with water to form slaked lime, and this in turn wholly or partly, becoming carbonated as it reacted with atmospheric carbon dioxide.  Reddening and calcination are thus good indicators of burning and destruction by fire.  They must, however, be interpreted cautiously, because some of the red colour, particularly if associated with clays and sands, could be glacially derived from naturally released Triassic sediments."

On their way to work or stopping for a break?

For some reason, my hunch is that they're on the way to work first thing in the morning: there's a freshness and purpose about the picture, I think.  Who knows?  A 1985 Phillpotts archive picture of Cleo Demetriades, Sasha Judelson, Nadine Munn-Baron and Jacqui Durrup.

Experimental Archaeology 4: but what is Julie doing?

I can't figure out what Julie Fissenden is doing in this photo: it looks as though a fair-sized log has been upended and then had a fire built around its base.  It seems to have been burned about half way through without falling over.  And what's the whiteish thing that Julie is adding to the fire? There are a couple of other similar items on the right side of the fire.  Magnified they look like bones or scrolls.  General mystification.

"Come come, Crickley Man, it is all very clear. Julie F is stoking the fires (by throwing on a billet) around a make-believe house post, to see whether the burning of a house would cause posts to char below the level of the ground surface. Postholes, you see, regularly have charcoal in their infill. The answer, however, is probably not. The charcoal must derive from other sources, rather than the burning of the post itself. Clear?  Phil."

Clear!

The First Hillfort

Again, by kind permission of Professor Dixon: the continuation of the First Hillfort at Crickley section of "Crickley Hill and Gloucestershire Prehistory", the first part of which was posted here:

"Continental scholars have traced the growth of strongly fortified hill-settlements from 1200 BC onwards.  In Britain the development came later, with C14 dates not earlier than the 11th or 10th centuries BC, and most of the hillfort foundation-dates belong to the later period, to the three or four centuries after 700 BC. The first fort at Crickley was built early in this latter period perhaps in the 7^th or 6^th century.  The new rampart and ditch enclosed an area of some nine acres, more than double that of the causewayed enclosure, and provided a substantial barrier with a rock-cut ditch 2 m (6 ft) deep, and a drystone wall built of the stone taken from it at least 3 m (10 ft) high.  The entrance was a narrow timber-lined passage shut by two gates, and the defences were presumably capped by timber or wickerwork screens. 

Behind the entrance roadway ran between lines of buildings whose position is now marked only by the post holes in which their principal upright timbers were set.  Beside the roadway the buildings were probably large rectangular barn-like houses, and two more houses of this sort lay in the area of the abandoned near the enclosure - one, indeed, along the line of its ditch, as can be seen in the reconstruction drawing (figure 2).  Groups of small square huts, each supported on four posts, stood around the houses. 

None contained hearths, and they were probably intended for the storage of crops.  More irregular collections of post holes may have belonged to subsidiary buildings, such as drying racks, animal pens, hovels for farm implements, all roofed stack stands.  A variety of these structures is shown in the two reconstruction drawings of the hillfort periods, (figures 2 and 3) but there is, of course, no certainty in any of the versions adopted.

The houses so far uncovered (in about one third of the fort's total area) could perhaps have accommodated from 50 to 200 people: there is no way of estimating the density of settlement in the unexcavated area.  This community survived long enough to wear down the entrance roadway, but had gone, it seems, before the replacement of rotten timber in its houses became necessary: one generation, then, or two at the most.  The end was clearly abrupt.  The gates were burned, the walls slighted, and the houses destroyed by fire."

Stop press: Captain Lash is in the offing ...

I've won a copy of 'Captain Lash' for the princely sum of £0.99 on eBay... is there any better birthday present for which I could hope? Julie-Ann privately advises me that she has picked up copies for 50p, so I may have been rooked, but there we are.  It does not feel like that: stand by for some excruciating rollicking stories, once the Royal Mail has done its job...

Looks a bit chilly for this sort of thing ...

The concrete surface outside the mess hall looks a bit wet and the weather none too warm, so I'm afraid I can provide no reasoned explanation for how or why Dr Phillpotts has managed to take this photo of me, to which he gave the caption 'Julian in biblical garb'.  I appear to be clad in a dressing gown and flip-flops, which I remember owning, and a headscarf of which I have no memory at all.  Presumably I was caught somewhere between the ablutions block and my pit.  The film slipped and superimposed part of another photo of someone sitting on the mess hall steps in the top half.  

CH 1990 Richard Ozanne & a cast of thousands ..

Well, cast of thousands is the caption Dr Phillpotts put in his album: I counted parts of at least 38 people in the photo but what intrigues me, as I was not present, is why everyone is facing the same direction. Plainly there must have been some entertainment or lecture of some kind that caused the assembly ... does anyone recall what was happening in a southwesterly direction? 

Fiona Wilkes (formerly Sharpe, who dug at Crickley from 1989 to 1993) writes: "Was this anything to do with the season when Channel 4 came and did a 'Down to Earth' programme which I think was their first attempts at bringing archaeology to the masses? I think they did a feature on the long mound from what I can recall as my hand trowelling featured in the opening credits. The main star of the show was an American girl called Trish. Just a thought??"

Excavations on Leckhampton Hill 1925

Thanks are due to the Secretary of the Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society for permission to reproduce extracts from the BGAS's Transactions.  Here a couple of intriguing items from 1925.

"Less than a mile away are three barrows, one a particularly fine long barrow of the Neolithic Age, at "the Crippets", two round barrows near the inn known as the "Air Balloon", and by the side of the road to Birdlip, was found a beautiful mirror enamelled in colours, at  a burial place of the Iron Age, one of the most striking specimens ever discovered of that period, now in Gloucester Museum.  Hence there was sufficient reason to welcome the opportunity of exploring and dating the tumulus and the adjoining camp.  

A particularly interesting feature of the core of Leckhampton Camp is the appearance of the action of fire or intense hear, which has reddened the yellow oolite rock in a remarkable way.  This peculiarity is not confined to Leckhampton Camp - for it is very noticeable at Crickley Camp - two miles away.  

Thomas Lloyd Baker, in a paper read before the Society of Antiquaries, London in 1818, refers to this fact for which there is no adequate explanation."

Catch 'em young ...

John Gale keeps a relaxed and friendly eye on one of Crickley's younger 1990 operators, Mary Miller. I should think she needed a sit down if she was press-ganged at that age, but she looks pretty relaxed too.  The viewing platform in the background helps me work out that they are some way down on the National Trust land but not terribly far west of the rampart. The photographic tower is either halfway put up or halfway taken down.

Fourth Report 1972, part III: The Interior of the Hillfort 1972

(click on the images to enlarge)

Thank you as ever to PWD for permission to post these abstracts from his 1972 Fourth Report. I'm afraid the Albergo Parker is not equipped with an A3 scanner so each A4 page has to be scanned and posted separately:

"An area 80 m long and up to 40 m broad was stripped behind the entrance passage (cuttings BI - BXII).  Stratigraphy in this area was slight, in many places less than 5 cm between turf and bedrock, but a number of the 180 postholes uncovered here can be placed in relative sequence: near the centre of the excavated area postholes 472 cut into and was later than a large posthole; further southwards posthole 529 - 534 were cut into a layer of small packed stones which sealed the tops of posthole's 544 - 547 and 516.  Postholes 529 - 534 formed part of an almost perfect post circle, whose postholes must be seen from their regularity as contemporary; it does not therefore follow that the postholes stratified earlier in the sequences were all of the same date, but this conclusion is indicated by the consistency of their layout: almost all formed pairs from 2 1/2 metres to 3.3 m apart, with similar spacing between the pairs.  

The structures represented by both these groups of postholes may be tied in with the phasing of the rampart.  Within the inturned entrance of the timber-laced rampart (Period 2) the excavations in 1970 exposed a hollow way, produced by traffic wear.  This hollowing continued on the axis of the passage to run between the alignments produced by the pairs of (earlier) post holes.  During Period 3b a cobbled road was laid against the entrance bastions and could be followed running into the interior of the hillfort.  These cobbles overlay the structures identified in figure 5 as "House 2" and "House 6", but curved to avoid the post circle, which must therefore have been in existence in Period 3b.  In the case of the rows of postholes to the west of the post circle (Houses 3, 4 and 5) no evidence of phasing was uncovered, but their alignment corresponded quite closely with that of Houses 1, 2 and 6, and all are thus assumed to form part of one settlement, whose plan consisted of houses set on either side of the road away from the Period 2 entrance.  None of the settings were completely regular.  House 2 and House 5 in particular contained pairs more widely spaced the other postholes in the group and House 3 and House 4 each had a pair of post holes stepped southwards of the general alignment. Post pipe packings survived in many of these post holes, and showed that the post might be placed eccentrically in the hole to compensate the irregularities in the spacing, but even this was not always sufficient to produce a straight row of posts.  Each could thus be argued that some or all of the "houses" shown in figure 5 were in fact separate contiguous buildings, perhaps of four or six posts as identified on a number of Iron Age sites (Stanford, 1970).  But between each "house" lay gaps greater than the spacing of pairs within each of the "houses": these gaps, together with the close correspondence in overall alignment within each "house" group in contrast with slight variations in direction between groups, make such a suggestion implausible.  Indeed, it has recently been argued that such variations in direction and construction within a single structure may indicate variations of function within the building - between house and byre, or between single and double storeyed portions of the house (Soudsky, 1969).  Arguments as to whether all the longhouses attributed to Period 2 were in fact strictly contemporary cannot be satisfactorily resolved: none of the buildings overlapped, and the suggested plan of the settlement (figure 6) reveals a regularity in the layout which very strongly indicates that all the longhouses were designed to form a single coherent settlement."

For once a cutting that looks a little bit untidy ...

Iain Ferris was speaking approvingly, a few weeks ago here, of the soundness of the training given on the excavation and the rules by which an orderly and safe site was maintained.  He also recalled how neatly the cuttings were left.  Amongst the many photos I have, this is about as untidy as it got, and if that's the worst I can find, the team did well. Deduct half a mark for the buckets left the right way up rather upside down during the break to protect tools from rain showers.  Turf stack in background squared up nicely.  

I've been trying to work out where this cutting was on the hill but have failed.  Back of the rampart? North side of hill? Perhaps I'm being confused by the way the ground comes down in steps and drops away, but the shelf stops at the edge of the cutting.

Update: Dixon rides to the rescue: "The latest blog has just about fooled me, but I think that it is a view of the Long Mound valley during or just before backfilling, showing the LM itself dug and reconstructed as a made up pile with the turf neatly on it (as you mention), and the strange mounds on the left ready for backfilling over the area of cleaned bedrock in the foreground and the centre. Viewed from high up (but not the top of) the photo tower, looking SE. Should be about cutting T5, and about 1986 or so????????"

Jim Irvine finds a reference to Crickley Hill in 'The Times' ...

Good spot by Jim Irvine: he emails to tell me that there's a reference to Crickley Hill in this piece by Norman Hammond in 'The Times' on 9 January 2009.  The article's headline is "Radiocarbon dates indicate early Irish were just visiting". I was wondering what on earth Jim had sent me when I saw "life_and_style" and "court_and_social" in the URL, but it seems that's where the Thunderer's web editors file archaeological pieces these days!  Don't think that's where the Dewey decimal system would put it, nor would it be the first place I'd think of, but there we are. Actually, I'm being a bit naughty saying that, because the Court & Social, now that I reflect on it, has been the page where archaeological articles have appeared in 'The Times' for most, if not all, of my life.  I take it back! The article itself is rather interesting and refers back to a piece that Normand Hammond wrote about Crickley Hill more than 31 years ago - 7 November 1977.

The Chronicler captured with his own camera ..

A rare example of the Phillpotts lens being applied to its owner.  I think, from examination of the rest of the Phillpotts 1985 archive, that the half-face visible in the bottom corner belongs to Simon Figg. 

Lunchtime portraits from 1983 by Jim Irvine

Here's Jane Fitt (now Lambert) ...

... and  Nina Stoyan, enjoying her lunchtime sandwich.

An introduction to the watercolours of V. A. Wright

Dr Ferris has now turned me into a postcard collector: a little judicious hunting around on eBay after Iain's tipoff the other day has resulted in a steady series of hesitant rattlings at the letterbox, rustlings on the way through, followed by gentle cloppings onto the hallway tiles at the Albergo Parker.  Postcards of Gloucestershire are now arriving from as far away as Malaga.  

It is clear from my brief researches and purchases that there was a watercolourist - probably before the Second World War from the font style and card design - called V. A. Wright (sex unknown to me as yet) whose easel was set up fairly regularly round Crickley, Barrow Wake & Birdlip.  Crickley aficionados will recognise the slightly different perspective offered from Birdlip.

Jock Bruce during a damp teabreak, 1987

This particular day on site in 1987 was plainly wet and cold: Jock, resting quietly in his waterproofs, while Mike Sims leans against the hut in the background sipping his tea.  The boot to Mike's right at the left edge above Jock's knee belongs to Malcolm White.  Rest of him, at same tea break, together with more in focus shot of Mike, is here.

Can anyone assist Dr Ferris?

Iain writes: "I was pleased to see that featured in the most recent dig photo posted on the blog by Crickley Hill Man was Robin Hall in his trademark white bush-hat. Robin was without doubt one of the nicest people I ever met at Crickley and I recall we had great fun joshing and jesting with each other when we supervised adjacent cuttings in either 1975 or 1976 (I cannot remember which). Robin was a gentleman of the old school, hugely knowledgeable and full of interesting and amusing stories, as well as being an excellent archaeologist. Does Crickley Hill Man have any other pictures in which Robin features more prominently, as it would be good to see these on the blog in the future?"

Alas, that's the only one of Robin that I've got, but I will happily post any others that are sent to me. A consultation of "Crickley Hill: the Hillfort Defences", 1994 reveals in the acknowledgements at p3 that Robin supervised 1976 to 1978 which may assist Iain's memory.  I think that he may also feature in the 1970 photograph on p43 ...

Another lashing, this time from beyond the seas ...

"Dear C-H-M,

Many, many years ago my friend and I obtained copies of a book which seemed harmless enough, even quite amusing, at the time. But now I've found out that may not be the case, and my copy is in storage. I've checked the official list of items prohibited for storage by my employer and pornography, propaganda, subversive material or items of great value are not permitted.  What should I do?

Worried of Little Britain"

Dear Worried,

I must unmask you, I'm afraid, and remind you that you told me you were running adult literacy centres for the Army in Cyprus. Surely your duty is clear: book it out of storage and use it as course - should that be coarse - material for our boys? The all-action boddice-ripping yarn packed with fighting will surely appeal to their puckish sense of fun?

C-H-M.

Ferris lashes back:

Julie-Ann's post about Captain Frank Shaw's extraordinary literary talent seems to have hit the Ferris mark.

"Well, 'stap me vitals', as I believe the stoker (was he called Corky?), 'the cavalier of the shovel', at one point exclaims in the Crickley cult book 'Captain Lash'.  Fancy Julie-Ann remembering this book after all these years.  [She's doing a bit more than remembering it - she's recording it for those who've been deprived of it thus far in their lives! Ed.] My copy and copies of some four or five other books by Captain Frank H. Shaw are in a box somewhere in the loft here in Selly Oak and haven't been looked at for some time.  The original copy of 'Captain Lash' came either from a charity shop in Cheltenham or, more likely, from Alan Hancox's marvellous and greatly-missed secondhand bookshop at the end of the Promenade. Who acquired it first, I cannot remember, but I know a number of us eventually had copies, as it was a regular fixture in charity shops in those days, along with books by Hall Caine, Rumer Godden and Storm Jameson. Am I right in thinking that Chris Phillpotts adapted 'Captain Lash' as a play that was performed at Ullenwood one year or is this a figment of my fevered imagination?"

Captain Lash! Julie-Ann brings the memories flooding back ...

Julie-Ann Morrison sends the following gem, which absolutely made my day:

"One of my abiding memories of Crickley is a load of us sitting in the dorm after drinking copious quantities of Weston's listening to that nice Mr Ferris reading us Captain Lash! I remember we were only allowed one chapter per night, and it was such a wonderful book that I went straight after that year's dig and found a copy in a second hand book shop and have treasured it ever since.

In fact I buy copies for other people. I am in the process of recording said book for a blog and will let you know when I get that sorted. I have since sourced other books by the same author - Captain Frank Shaw, including the amazing 'Gay Sea Road'. They were written between the wars and the language was obviously perfectly fine then, but now the opportunity for double entendre is positively delicious! I think the following excerpt may both remind those of us who were there, and give a flavour to those who were not fortunate enough to be amongst those read to......

'Say' said Lash 'Isn't there anyone here who can fight?' There was no one animate enough to reply. Cora, crouched under the wilted piano, sobbed hysterically and tried to abuse him, but his gentle touch on her face had played havoc with the best bridge work of a pacific dentist, and she could only gulp incoherencies.'

Ah, happy days!!!"

How on earth could I have let Captain Lash slip from my memory and my life? It's possibly the worst written book I've ever had the privilege to lay hands on and I have a broad grin on my face as I type this. I tried, a few times, reading passages out loud but was unable to contain the mirth or accompanying tears. I remember being absolutely in stitches listening to the Ferris rendition which was without equal in the county, or, doubtless, throughout the land.

I can't wait for Julie-Ann to post 'Captain Lash - the audio book'. I bet Ferris is still having a periodic chuckle over his copy. Where's my eBay password got to?

Update - I have a bid in at 99p - will anyone fight me for it? I also see that it's Amazon UK's 1,346,579th Best Seller at the time of posting ... I think there may be some competition in July for who gets to declaim the best passages ...

Matthew 7:8 - and he that seeketh findeth: why we had Thursdays off...

Professor Dixon illuminates: "In re your last blog, I hasten to provide enlightenment… If we are to have a day off (and on some sites we didn't: Greenwich Palace 1971 lasted for 2.5 months without a day off, which is why we took a day off at Crickers), the weekend is not a candidate, since many locals came to dig at weekends. Wednesday in those times was a poor option since shops closed then for the afternoon (it was that long ago). Fridays were not good since weekenders and those coming for a week’s digging etc might expect to arrive that evening after work, which would prevent staff from having an evening off somewhere, and Friday was a good day to spend preparing for the great increase in numbers on Saturday, and ensuring that they could be utilised properly (eg buying more pencils, drawing film, tools, nails and string…) Mondays were not ideal, since they were required to tidy up the chaos which might follow the enthusiasm of part time diggers on Sunday. This basically left either Tuesday or Thursday, and we tossed for it, and selected Thursday. This further ensured that our weekly parties were held on Wednesday night, since sobering up on the morning after could be done during your time rather than the dig’s. It all makes sense…"

I knew there was a reason why the parties were on a Wednesday ...  and am I not right in thinking that the dig at Greenwich led directly to the recruitment to the Crickley team of the stalwart and splendid Mr Paul Noakes? 

A much coveted oolitic limestone trophy ...

Dr Phillpotts's 1980 caption reads: "Julian Parker looks on as John Parry presents the piece of limestone to Mike Taylor as Personality of the Year".  Hmm... well I suppose it made sense to make trophies out of limestone, as it wasn't exactly in short supply.   

There are some details in this shot that bring back certain memories.  Not only do I still appear to have some hair to go with the beard in this photograph, but I am wearing evening dress: the wing collar and the bow-tie can just about be made out.  I now recall buying the dinner jacket, and other necessary items, at the Cheltenham Oxfam Shop.  I rather think I was accompanied by Jane Dineen or Ros Cleal, or both, on this particular shopping expedition. We swapped a pair of trousers, that were obviously far too big for me, from one hanger, which bore a jacket that fitted me, for the trousers belonging to an entirely different suit, which had a jacket that was far too small for me.  The resulting ensemble, plus dress shirt and bow-tie was acquired for £5.  I can only hope that a strangely-shaped customer with narrow shoulders, pigeon chest and an enormous waist came along and bought the curious combination dinner suit that was left behind after this feat of leger-de-main.

Mike Taylor, even indoors, is wearing his astonishingly long knitted scarf, a better view of which, on site, is to be found in the top photo here.  Mr Parry, meanwhile, is sporting a black shirt with extravagant cuffs and pearl buttons gleaming in the dim light.  I expect it was one of those evenings when John, with a broad grin, verging on a leer, had announced "I'm going to make myself pretty!".

Behind us is the ill-fated and long-suffering Ullenwood piano. Its debilitated state is hinted at by one or two keys that lie depressed unable to spring back into position.  The piano sustained ever greater damage down the years and, I see, from examining Dr Phillpotts's definitive history of the Below Average White Band, that it never featured as an instrument after the 1980 season.

But what I really want to know is why there are two bottles of GL cider, on top of the piano, conjoined by a pair of underpants or knickers, which bears what looks suspiciously like a representation of Donald Duck on the front ...

In the shade of the tree on the rampart ...

Elsa Charlot and Kathy Scott stay quietly away from the usual melee round the huts during a tea-break on one of the cooler days in 1979.  This also shows the southeast corner of Ros Cleal's Cutting A6 at a somewhat unexciting stage.

One Thursday in 1985 ...

For reasons I know not - but I'm sure enlightenment would come from Messrs. Dixon or Savage - Thursday was the rest day. By and large, because the bus that stopped at the end of Greenway Lane went to Cheltenham, almost everyone went into Cheltenham on Thursdays to do a little bit of shopping and to relax.  Few people, especially in the first 15 years of the excavations, had cars, so other destinations than Cheltenham were a rarity.  (Much for the same reason, public houses other than the Air Balloon were rarely honoured with the diggers' custom.  There were occasional trips to the Green Dragon at Cowley, but not much else.)

Favoured haunts included the Montpellier end of town, the Promenade and the Imperial Gardens.  The latter, I think, is the location of the above Phillpotts 1985 picture of Sasha Judelson and Alan Lupton (with a hint of Nadine Munn-Baron on the left).

Prehistoric flint, pottery and bronze objects with contemporary structures

(Click on the image to enlarge)

My thanks to Philip Dixon and the Crickley Hill Trust for permission to reproduce this figure and extract from "Crickley Hill and Gloucestershire Prehistory", 1977:  

"The first metals, copper and copper alloys, appeared in Britain about 2000 BC, apparently associated with the immigrant users of "Beakers", characteristically-shaped decorated vessels of fine pottery.  Iron came into common use in Britain much later, during the seventh and sixth centuries BC, and the sophisticated bronze-smiths and founders of the Late Bronze Age were re-placed as the providers of tools and weapons by blacksmiths.

After the abandonment of the Neolithic site Crickley seems to have lain deserted for over a thousand years.  The few fragments of Beaker pottery have been recognized in the excavations, and flint arrowheads of the same period suggest that the hilltop was then being used for little more than hunting.  The change came with the arrival of the hillfort builders."

Experimental archaeology 3: Dr Cleal the potter

Clay, tempering, water, and Cleal are the necessary requirements for these pots which Ros made for the experimental archaeology open day in 1988 or 1989 - Dr Phillpotts is unclear about which year - can anyone recall?  Having enlarged the photo I can see that Ros is applying some fingertip decoration to the pot in her hands.  I think I can see, but it may just be a trick of the light, some colour applied to the pot sitting in front of her.