Iron Age Wall

A further section of the public information board reads as follows: "Iron Age Wall. You are looking out over the south eastern sector of the Iron Age Wall. It was originally built about 700BC to defend the Long House Village and made from stone dug out from the ditch in front of it which itself served a defensive purpose. The wall was deliberately burned along with the village. About 500BC, on the establishment of the Round House Village, it was rebuilt and enlarged with new stonework to make a defence 5 or 6 metres high. Like its predecessor, this had a walkway along the top defended by a palisade with another ledge lower down. The purpose of the ledge is not clear; it may have been structural. The stone for rebuilding was gained by widening the old ditch and opening new quarry pits in the interior."

Given that the board is now located within the entrance to the fort since the platform was destroyed, you're not looking out over anything any more: you're looking at the north end of the south rampart section but I don't suppose either the grockles or Gloucestershire County Council care about such minor inaccuracies.

A peaceful pose

A peaceful shot of a meditating Paul Noakes absorbed in observing the lie of the limestone before continuing to draw his plan. I think from the angle of the rampart that this may be the south west corner of cutting AXVII. Barrow Wake in the background behind the dumper truck.

Cheerful in spite of the rain

Foz's enthusiasm is plainly undimmed in spite of the wet weather programme during the 1989 season in this picture from Jill Hummerstone. The Neolithic bank is in the foreground and the entrance and the Iron Age rampart in the distance. Even in poor visibility I would imagine Foz could have been seen from Leckhampton and quite possibly further afield.

Roundhouse Village Entranceway - Shurely shome mishtake?

"You are looking out over the remains of the Entranceway to the Round House Village that was built about 500BC. This was protected by a bastion on either side, and the observation platform where you are now standing was built on the site of the southern bastion. Between the bastions was a set of gates with a walkway above them. These in turn were protected by a defensive hookwork wall (the remains of which may be seen to your right) that was entered through an outer gate. A visitor could be kept between the two sets of gates and questioned before entering the village."

All of which is all very well, except for the fact that none of the above makes much sense now that the information board, which C-H-M snapped at Easter this year, is no longer mounted on top of the rampart on the observation platform, now destroyed, but instead on the lefthand side of the entrance through the rampart. I suspect there may be some confused grockles ...

Update: Dr Ferris observes: "In the reconstruction drawing I think the Iron Age defenders of Crickley should be depicted occupied in fending off that massive butterfly. It could really do some damage otherwise."

The Iron Age interior

The yellow markers for the Iron Age roundhouses and the blue ones for the longhouses can just be picked out in this 1990 photo taken looking back towards the Iron Age ramparts and entrance by Lara Unger. The viewing platform, dubbed by some, for reasons that C-H-M can no longer recall, the 'Courtney Memorial Platform' stands proud against the skyline.

1982 work scene

Early on during the excavation of the rampart cutting during the 1982 season: this Jane Dineen photo must have been taken on a chilly day as there are plenty of pullovers in evidence. Amongst others, Big Les and Steve Vaughan on the right and Terry Courtney in the foreground.

From the ramparts, looking north ...

From the ramparts under a very beautiful sky with fabulous light as it so often is on top of the hill: this photo was taken by Lara Unger during the 1990 season. It makes C-H-M want to be up there looking out over the Severn Vale.

Back to 1972 ...

A peaceful scene from 1972 on Clive Anderson's cutting, kindly supplied by Lydia Savage. This must have been exactly the phase when the large postholes for the Iron Age longhouses and roundhouses were emerging. Let's hope the digger sitting on the edge of the cutting wasn't as miserable as her hunched outline suggests. This picture is looking southeast towards the southern section of the Iron Age rampart.

Fine drystone wall

I can never get over quite how well the Iron Age ramparts were constructed. The top wall and an intersecting gangbreak between the walls show up nicely in this 1979 picture of Cutting AXVII taken by Anna Behan.

The 1982 season in a few sentences ...

My thanks as usual to the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society for their permission to reproduce this abstract from their Proceedings about the 1982 season: "Badgeworth/Coberley, Crickley Hill, SO 927161. During the 14th season of excavation at Crickley work concentrated on the extreme southern end of the Iron Age rampart. Here, the final rampart, stepped at the front in our other cuts, had been only partially rebuilt after the first destruction. Behind the rampart a series of structures was uncovered. The final occupation in this area postdated the final abandonment of the fortifications. Dating evidence is still unclear, but includes three abraded sherds of Roman pottery. A Dark Age occupation cannot be ruled out."

Phillpotts and Tea-Cosy

Dr Phillpotts throws a shape and wears a tea-cosy at the same time, poised (or should that be posed?) on the top of the rampart for Anna Collinge pretending to give an exposé of the joys of the Iron Age rampart walls emerging from cutting AXV in the course of the 1979 season. Is that a glimpse of Mark Spivakowski on the right? Barrow Wake lies in the distance.

Same shot sixteen years apart

These two pictures were taken standing on the same spot with an interval of nearly sixteen years: the top photo was taken by Lara Unger, in August 1993, and the bottom one by C-H-M, in April 2009, standing just to the south of the viewing platform (demolished by 2009), looking south, down the Iron Age rampart, with Barrow Wake on the horizon. Interesting to see the effect of the maintenance by the Cotswold wardens: the erosion of path on the top of the rampart appears to have been arrested and the rampart looks better for the absence of bushes. Lara definitely has more interesting light and finer clouds.

The 1991 season in brief ...

Thanks to the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society for permission to reproduce this abstract from their Proceedings relating to the 1991 season: "Coberley, Crickley Hill, Work in 1991 concentrated on three areas: (a) The long mound, where the platform was removed to reveal the road and fences of the Neolithic settlement. (b) The northern side of the Neolithic defences, which proved to be a complex of fences and ditches, with a gap between the village and the banks. (c) The tail of the 1A rampart, which changed its nature on the steep northern side of the hill, and had been constructed as a simple drystone wall without a ditch."

Another cut on AXVII

From the Dineen album in 1982: per Dixon 1994: "the front face of the Period 3b rampart, after removing the tumble and soil, showing the corner of the rebuilt defences, with a short gang length. A gang break is visible ... the collapse of the end of the bank has led to the spreading of the second gang-length southwards."

CH 1982 work scene ...

I think I've correctly identified this as being cutting AXVII across the interior taken from the top of the 1982 rampart cutting. Neither Jane Dineen, whose photo this is, nor I managed to recognise anyone even with the aid of a magnifier, so if you can do better and spot who's who, please let me know ...

Crickley panorama from Birdlip

The view of the hill from Birdlip on the morning of the reunion, again! Dr Ferris and I reckoned that you can't quite see the Long Mound even when you know where it is. But you cannot mistake the rampart.

Experimental archaeology 9: rampart destruction 1970

Two splendid pictures from 1970 from Lydia Savage: Baz Roscoe, assisted by Dave Fine, created a rampart section and set fire to it to see if the meringue effect could be reproduced, during the 1970 season. It proved harder to fire than you might think. In the lower photo, Phil and Sonia and Christopher Hawkes who were visiting the site.

Simple beauty

Dr Ferris and I walked through the beautiful cool beechwood together on Saturday morning after breakfast. We nearly lost hope that we would find a break in the trees to see the view that we knew must be there: a happy chance encounter with a kind woman walking her dog, just as we were about to give up, meant that we could ask the way: "Through this gate and down to the end of the field, there's quite a good view", said she.

And this is what we saw...

The quarry road, Easter 2009

Looking north east down to the quarry road from the northern end of the Iron Age Rampart which runs up to the right of this photo, taken earlier this year. Did Richard Savage really once mash the suspension of the famous VW bus by driving 23 people up here?

Section through the 1982 rampart cutting AXVII

These two photos from Jane Dineen, when spliced together, give a superb view of the 1982 rampart cutting AXVII, viewed from cutting FA3(?ish). For a full account see pp144 to 149 of 'Crickley Hill, The Hillfort Defences' (Dixon 1994). P144 has two photographs which show the left and right hand parts of this photo. The left side, to quote PWD, is "the front face of the Period 2 rampart, built quite roughly on a deep turf and chipple bed, and left untouched and partially ruined during the later rebuilding of the defences during Period 3a and 3b". The right side is "the front face of the Period 3b rampart, after removing the tumble and soil, showing the corner of the rebuilt defences, with a short gang length. A gang break is visible ... the collapse of the end of the bank has led to the spreading of the second gang-length southwards."

I think I can see Iain Ferris, Mike Taylor, Terry Courtney, Jim Irvine, Steve Vaughan, Big Les and Bernie Dawson but do my eyes deceive me? Update: yes they do: Mr Boden said "You can't see Iain Ferris 'cos he wasn't there that year." Dr Ferris said "That's not me and I'm deeply hurt that you could think I would ever tuck my trouser-bottoms into my socks." Sorry.