| |
 Log in |
Register
|
|
|
England
Oldbury HillfortHillfort
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
0 discussions
Show map (inline Google Map)
|
|
|
Sites in this group:
|
20 posts
Oldbury Rock Shelters Cave / Rock Shelter |
Images (click to view fullsize) |
 Add an image |
Photographs:
Artistic / Interpretive:
|
Fieldnotes |
Add fieldnotes |
|
Oldbury Hill Fort – 25.8.2003 An enormous hill fort, measuring 1,350m north-south, and 700m east-west, with an interior covering 49 hectares (about 125 acres)! So with only about half of it open access (National Trust land) it’s still an enormous place to mooch about in. The woodland car park at TQ578558 is an obvious place, and is signposted (not that well) from the main road – the A25. A footpath directly opposite the end of the car park takes you up to the most impressive part of the ramparts (the west side). There are various paths all over the hill fort area, or as Juamei suggests a walk around the ramparts is nice, although the A25 does follow the ramparts on the south-east side making you feel really close the road despite the oppressive trees. Excavated evidence suggests that the site as rapidly constructed on a huge scale but never occupied on a permanent basis. Short-lived settlement was discovered in the southern half of the hillfort, possibly relating to the construction period. I later found the Mesolithic oldbury Rock Shelters (I think), the northern one of which does offer rare (and beautiful) views off to the east of the hillfort. |
Posted by pure joy27th August 2003ce |
|
[visited circa 16/3/3] Finally I made it back here during the day & it was well worth the visit. A fairly large fort on top of a heavily wooded hill, the single bank-ditch combo is clearly visible and a well trodden path is available either at the top of the bank or the bottom. The trees (whilst nice for hugging et al) did iritate slightly as I'd have liked to have actually seen the view, but other than that they added very nicely to the general ambience. Half of the fort is under cultivation, seemingly with apple orchards, but 'apparently' the farmer doesn't mind people walking on it. I didn't try this out however! Park in the main car park & follow the hillfort bank counter-clockwise to get to the mesolithic Rock Shelters. |
Posted by juamei30th March 2003ce Edited 30th March 2003ce |
|
[actually written & added 27/11/02] This is another hillfort covered in trees & especially at night, there isn't that much to see. Apparently the east side of the fort is precipitous but we didn't make it that far, preferring instead to stop at the west embankments and wonder what the sounds were emanating from the trees. Probably a better place to visit during the day, unless you know where you are going and (possibly) have a torch... |
Posted by juamei 19th March 2003ce |
Miscellaneous |
Add miscellaneous |
|
Oldbury hillfort was built by Iron Age people (who obviously had some run-ins with other tribes or the romans, as the NE timber gate was burnt down at some point, and caches (if I may use that word) of sling stones have also been found) - But the hill was also the site of activity in the Old Stone Age. On the east side of the hillfort and 400m south of the NE fort entrance are two sandstone hollows (probably covered in vegetation) which were 'workshops' for tool makers - 40 hand axes and hundreds of flakes and other tools were found here (and are now in the Maidstone museum). |
Posted by Rhiannon30th January 2003ce Edited 25th September 2006ce |
Latest posts for Oldbury Hillfort |
Showing 1-10 of 20 posts. Most recent first | Next 10 
Oldbury Rock Shelters (Cave / Rock Shelter) — Fieldnotes |
|
After studying all the previous posts I decided to attempt to locate these two sites. On Tuesday this week we made the climb from the car park using the recommmended route but losing our bearings we had to give up the search. On checking other sites and using my car Tomtom in longtitude/ latitude mode we set out again. I realise I made an elementary mistake which was mentioned and went on the wrong path. We found both sites quite easily and on the rock dwelling on the path from Oldbury Lane my sat nav was out by only 50 yards which I found amazing. Well worth the climb but I have to say I did not feel any atmosphere at the dwellings but other obviously have because of the evidence left behind. David |
Posted by deepeedee 9th May 2013ce |
|
The perimeter of Oldbury hillfort is so substantial... of such extreme length.... a 'hill city', in fact... that my only previous visit here, in 2008, merely focussed upon the well defined defences to the south. Yeah, 'I'm a lazy sod', a phrase once used to great ironic effect by Johnny Lydon when taunting the British establishment out of its own stupefaction. But, credit where due, a few years on I realise my mistake and reckon... at the very least... the bluebells might have made an appearance upon the ancient ramparts once again, earthworks which I understand could possibly - nay, probably - have succumbed to an assault by Caesar and his barbarian boneheads during the course of his self-aggrandizing trip across the water from Gaul. Why not try the whole two and a half-odd miles. Angry farmers permitting? Yeah, why not? The enormous Iron Age fortress of Oldbury rises above the Kentish village of Igtham, famed - and rightly so - for its exquiste, moated Medieval manor house. Not that the informed passer by would know the former existed at all, if not for the name. Oldbury... hmm. So where's the 'fort, then? A dense encircling canopy of trees is the culpruit here, predominately oak, or so I understand. Well, to cut a long story short - even with map and compass - I soon lose any sense of positionning upon this tremendous fortification. Yeah, I'm soon bewitched by the ancient forest, so I am. The defences are pretty upstanding for the most - as mentioned, very much so to the south - but have the tendency to go walkabout in places (or so it seems). Some may find woodland claustrophobic, but not I. Love it, the roots of trees clinging to rampart sheltering the aforementioned first bluebells of Spring, the wooden tentacles themselves the very epitome of Nature. I blunder into an orchard and notice the path continues, a couple noncholantly walking a dog.... beyond, the tree line is bordered by a mass of farm implements... not to mention council road signs. Hey, use an ancient hillfort as a storage depot, why don't you? Guess this must be the 'private' part, then? Carrying on along the edge of the hillside I encounter some rocky outcrops...... no, couldn't be? Aren't there supposed to be some cave dwellings here? There are. And for a reason I can't really explain the experience completely blows me away. Overlooking a steep drop and accompanied by another fine tree with copious roots, I gaze into the black void and know I must brave the arachnids and venture inside. There is no choice. I must.... and, although well versed in crawling down the claustrophobic passages of Orcadian tombs, I begin to freak out within. What appear - at least to me - 'artificial' markings upon the left hand cave wall heighten the vibe, the darkness beyond showing the literal 'light at the end of the tunnel'. To my suprise - aren't caves damp and uncomfortable? - the ground is absolutely bone dry, powder dust, but the roof is perhaps just three foot high. Good for sleeping, then. Hey, much like my one man tent? These Neanderthal fellas (and lasses) had their world sussed, methinks. Although light beckons, the roof begins to contract to a point where I can't go on. No, really. Approx half way, I guess. Retreating towards the entrance I gaze out and am suddenly overwhelmed by a connection to what went before. Hey, the finds prove it. People sat here at a time beyond my comprehension... people of a different species, goddammit!.... and no doubt thought 'look at that bloody rain... and she's gonna kill me if I don't return from the hunt with something better than that bloody squirrel yesterday.... Mighty hunter... me. Ha!' I sit at the entrance, beneath the overhanging rock protecting the fire... if there was one... eating my pre-packaged lunch... and wonder how I'd cope if I actually had to catch my own lunch. Yeah, I'm sure I could do it. Do or die. But how dare we be-little the people who've gone before. How dare we!! How dare we, indeed..... I sit here in awe, I really do. The birds sing, and perhaps only the distant road noise reminds the traveller this is actually the 21st century.... how can one experience such emotions in quaint modern day Kent, American tourists swarming below? I feel red raw with emotion. And mighty better for it, I can tell you. |
Posted by GLADMAN16th April 2012ce Edited 17th April 2012ce |
Oldbury Rock Shelters (Cave / Rock Shelter) — Images (click to view fullsize) |
       
|
Posted by GLADMAN 15th April 2012ce |
Showing 1-10 of 20 posts. Most recent first | Next 10
Top of page