Hill fort said to be where King Arthur's Guinevere was born has lasted 3,000 years... under siege

Guardian UK ^ | Saturday, June 27, 2015 | Robin Stummer

[SunkenCiv]

A powerful group of senior archaeologists are sharpening their trowels to fight "ethically unacceptable" plans they say will destroy one of the nation's greatest Iron Age treasures.

Old Oswestry Hill Fort, an imposing ancient feature that dominates the skyline on the fringe of the Shropshire market town, is on the frontline of an increasingly bitter struggle pitting historians and residents against the local authority and central government.

At stake is the ancient rural surroundings of the hill fort, an elaborate, 3,000-year-old earthwork dubbed "the Stonehenge of the Iron Age". It is said to have been the birthplace of Queen Ganhumara -- Guinevere of Arthurian legend -- and was familiar to first world war poet Wilfred Owen, who is thought to have trained in trench fighting there before his posting to the western front.

Shropshire council is intent on pushing through a housing development abutting the fringe of the hill fort -- which is a scheduled ancient monument in the care of Historic England -- citing government targets for new builds. Land immediately surrounding the 13-acre hill fort has no statutory protection.

Earlier this month, the planning inspectorate approved an application to build 117 homes just metres from the outer perimeter of the fort, despite a petition opposing the scheme signed by 8,000 local people, and a large body of expert opinion on the exceptional importance of the site and its surrounding landscape.

Senior historians, led by two of Britain's leading archaeologists, fear the government is using the battle over Old Oswestry Hill Fort as a "stalking horse" to test the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), introduced in 2012 to speed up development schemes such as housing, roads and high-speed rail lines.

[SunkenCiv]

[Wikipedia] Old Oswestry is one of Britain's most spectacular and impressive early Iron Age hill forts in the Welsh Marches near Oswestry in north west Shropshire. Old Oswestry Hillfort is reputed as "The Stonehenge of the Iron Age Period" [Dr Rachel Pope, University of Liverpool]. It remains one of the best preserved hill forts in the UK, according to English Heritage. Built on lower ground, it is also one of the most accessible hill forts with stunning panoramic views across North Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire. Designated as a scheduled monument (number 27556) in 1997 it is now in the guardianship of English Heritage. After the hill fort was abandoned it was incorporated into Wat's Dyke, and two sections of this are adjacent to it. It was occupied between the eighth century BCE and the Roman conquest of Britain, probably by the Cornovii tribe or the Ordivice tribe. The complexity of its defenses suggests several phases of development. The site was originally occupied by a few undefended round huts. These were then enclosed by a double bank and ditch enclosure spreading over 52,000 square metres (13 acres). Entrances were placed through the enclosure at the east and west ends where the inner bank was pulled back inwards to create a more impressive gateway. These defenses were later rebuilt and a third bank added on all sides except the south east where the hill's steep slope made further strengthening unnecessary. The western entrance was then remodeled with unusual rectangular hollows separated by ridges dug out and defended by outworks. Finally two further circuits of banks and ditches were added to the outside and a flanking bank placed alongside the eastern entrance. Although Old Oswestry was one of the most strongly defended hill forts in Britain there is no evidence that the Roman Legions ever tried to besiege it. During the First World War it was used as a training area for Canadian troops. Many of the large pits and trenches shown on aerial photographs relate to these military activities.

[SunkenCiv]

• The Oswestry Hillfort Pegasus Stone [2014]
• Ancient graves hint at cultural shift to Anglo-Saxon Britain [2014]
• Work Begins To Uncover Secrets Of Silbury Hill [2007]
• The hill fort where King Arthur's Guinevere was born has lasted 3,000 years: now it's under siege [deleted]

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[Humal]

Good luck to the archaeologists; hope they win this battle.

[Sacajaweau]

Very cool

[ElkGroveDan]

I hear she “had green eyes.”

[null and void]

Like yours?

[BenLurkin]

Queen Guinevere

Queen Ganhumara

[AppyPappy]

Freeper bert dated her older sister.

[SunkenCiv]

:’) Irrespective of his kinda stupid politics, I’ve always found that David Crosby song irresistable.

[SunkenCiv]

;’)

[FreedomPoster]

Kinda stupid?

[SunkenCiv]

The oldest article I’ve noticed on this so far is from 2013; at that time the number of housing units was higher. Local housing has already encroached on the site, and based on some of the other shots I’ve found of it, grazing is done on the top.

The site was used as a training site in WWI (see the wiki entry up there), and they dug all over the hill, part of their training for trench warfare. The site has never been scientifically studied; it would be nice to work out something — the developer would get to ring the whole site, but at some larger minimum standoff, and would have to pay for the research in the areas to be constructed. Naturally there would have to be more units.

[Aerial photo by Alistair Reid]
http://oldoswestryhillfort.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/P1220030a.jpg

[SunkenCiv]

Maybe you like this better -- although I don't think he was talking about the same "lesser evil".

[mass55th]

"Good luck to the archaeologists; hope they win this battle."

Me too. With the way they make people who want to rehabilitate historic listed buildings jump through hoops, and go into debt to do the work as directed, it makes me wonder who on the planning board is getting a kick-back on the building of these new homes. It's a bad decision that's for sure. Even archaeologists are restricted where they can put their trenches near historic sites. If they want to dig near one of these sites, they are told how many feet away they have to be, how many trenches they can have, and how many feet they can go down.

[ElkGroveDan]

Like yours?

Lady, like yours.

[ElkGroveDan]

:’) Irrespective of his kinda stupid politics, I’ve always found that David Crosby song irresistable.

Ditto. I tell the story of meeting my wife for the first time and the first thing I noticed was that she had green eyes and seemed to they sparkle when she smiled. I can easily see how someone would be moved to write a song about a beautiful woman with green eyes.

[minnesota_bound]

They need to do this to the developer.....

The last time swords crossed in the region was at the Battle of Maserfield in AD642, when nobles including Cynddylan, said to be the last descendant of King Arthur to reign in the Welsh Marches, defeated the army of King Oswald of Northumbria. Oswald was defeated, dismembered and his head impaled on a pole for a year.

[Boogieman]

[colorado tanker]

I agree. In poking around for images it appears the fort is on the edge of a city. Working out a trade of development rights for funds to research the site would be a win for everyone.