(the main article goes into more detail about these phases)
Old Oswestry Hillfort rampart development animation | 0:59
Henry Rothwell | 39 subscribers | 2,278 views | January 13, 2014
Posted on 03/30/2025 6:22:26 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
...People used the hilltop from the Neolithic period through to Roman times, but the main settlements here date to the later Bronze Age and Iron Age (from about 1000 BC to AD 43).
The discovery of a stone axe and flint tools here suggests that the hill was first occupied in the Neolithic period. The first direct evidence of a settlement, however, dates to about 1000 BC, before the first ramparts were built.
The settlement appears to have been surrounded by some sort of palisade or fence. Each roundhouse was built using wooden posts with wattle-and-daub walls. A central post probably supported a thatched roof and inside was a hearth. A pottery crucible was discovered in one of the hearths, showing that light industrial activities such as bronze melting were taking place within the hillfort.
By the early Iron Age, when the first two ramparts were built, the settlement was formed of stone-kerbed roundhouses. Two houses found during excavations were 7 metres in diameter, and again had central hearths. Several sherds of early Iron Age (7th century BC) furrowed pottery had been imported from the Wiltshire area as well as salt containers from Cheshire, showing that the community had long-distance trading links at this time...
After the hillfort had been abandoned it was incorporated into an earthwork known as Wat's Dyke.
(Excerpt) Read more at english-heritage.org.uk ...
(the main article goes into more detail about these phases)
Old Oswestry Hillfort rampart development animation | 0:59
Henry Rothwell | 39 subscribers | 2,278 views | January 13, 2014
Old Oswestry (Welsh: Hen Ddinas) is a large early Iron Age hill fort in the Welsh Marches near Oswestry in north west Shropshire, England. The earthworks, which remain one of the best preserved hill forts in the UK, have been described as "The Stonehenge of the Iron Age Period". After the hill fort was abandoned, it was incorporated into Wat's Dyke by the Mercians during the Early Medieval period. The hill fort was designated as a scheduled monument in 1934. The site is now managed by English Heritage. The accessible hill fort, at 160 metres (520 ft) ordnance datum, gives panoramic views across North and Mid Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire.Old Oswestry / Hen Ddinas Hillfort. | 3:30
KW Drone Flights | 36 subscribers | 57 views | June 1, 2024
Heartbreak over Iron Age hillfort vandalism | Tanya Gupta | BBC Shropshire | 4 March 2025An Iron Age hillfort has been targeted by vandals who have dug firepits, ridden mountain bikes over it and ripped gates off their hinges.
English Heritage said it was a criminal offence to cause damage to Old Oswestry Hillfort in Shropshire, which is a scheduled monument.
Curator Win Scutt said he was devastated to see the damage caused and theorised it might have been caused by teenagers who did not understand the importance of the site...
Mr Scutt added whoever had dug the firepit left a spade and charcoal there.
Vandals were also digging on the site "to make it a bit more exciting for bikes", he said...
"It's kids, teenagers apparently, so we're told. It's not serious mountain bikers," he said.
Mr Scutt said it was great they were out getting exercise but the protected site was the "wrong place to do it".
Scheduled monuments are sites protected by law for their archaeological and historical value.
Describing the damage as "grim", the curator said they have broken through gates and left litter including cans and bottles.
"Often kids just need a quiet word if that's who it is and kids do generally respect the past if they know about it," he said.
"But sometimes they just look at a hillfort like this and think 'well that's just a whole load of lumps really and that's great for riding my bike' - but actually it's a really important site."
Oswestry Iron Age hillfort development plans opposedDeveloper Galliers Homes has reduced the number of homes it is seeking to build on the land, just outside Oswestry, Shropshire, from 91 to 83.
BBC News, West Midlands | 8 February 2022
But the Hands Off Old Oswestry Hillfort (HOOOH) group said it would still be a 'major development' within the setting of a scheduled monument.
The application will be decided at a later date by Shropshire Council.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the land had been identified as being suitable for development under Shropshire Council's local plan.
But HOOOH has argued that more than sufficient land has been identified elsewhere to accommodate long-term housing growth in Oswestry...
"Housing will obliterate one of the best views of the hillfort for visitors approaching Oswestry from the east, leading to substantial harm to the heritage significance of the monument by destroying appreciation and understanding of the hillfort in its landscape setting as seen from this important vista," it added.
There are 274 objections to the current application and previous attempts to get homes built have been opposed by high-profile figures including anthropologist Professor Alice Roberts, historians Professor Michael Wood, Bettany Hughes and Dan Snow, actor Tom Holland, archaeologist Francis Pryor and the author Cressida Cowell.
The other GGG topics added since the previous digest ping, alpha:
[snip] Henry had a very short stint in the military during the War for Independence. British officials had seized gunpowder in Williamsburg; Henry returned from his journey north to the Second Continental Congress to lead the Virginia militia against the British. Henry likely had enough men to take Williamsburg and defeat the British. However, many colonial messengers persuaded the politician turned militia leader to be cautious, so he gave up the military action and instead negotiated payment for the gunpowder. Henry played a small role in the Continental Congress before returning to the Virginia militia. At one point he was placed in charge of all Virginia forces. Until the armies were reorganized under continental control and Henry was to be placed under a man, he previously outranked, obviously slighted, he resigned his position. He never saw action during the war and returned to Virginia. [/snip]Patrick Henry | American Battlefield Trust
Does anyone else find it curious that the UK government has not yet shutdown an obviously racist website with the name English Heritage?
/sarcasm
Heh... I juxtaposed the two articles about recent kerfluffles. It’s a protected monument. Oh, and there are some Karens trying to prevent housing being built where residents would have a nice view of the site. And the little twerps who vandalized the site? Probably live in the housing that’s already got a view of the site, and the vandalism is likely to have been witnessed, but the vandals no doubt lived in the existing housing.
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