Open Source Environment agency LIDAR
Image credit: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2015.
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Arbury Hill from the south east. The source of the River Nene can be seen in the foreground.
Image credit: Unknown
Articles
Rumours of underground tunnels always count as folklore don’t they. (It reminded me of that at Fiddler’s Hill in Norfolk).
Arbury Hill is an ancient encampment. The great earthwork was thrown up by the Romans and the whole was surrounded by a wide ditch 20 feet deep enclosing about 10 acres. There are subterranean passages which were discovered a few years ago when a dog disappeared after a rabbit, in, it was thought, a rabbit hole. The dog was called, but never came back, though it was heard barking under the ground a long distance away. Digging operations revealed an underground passage with foul air in it. The dog was never recovered.
From the ‘Northampton Mercury’, 20th October 1933.
Also (I have not read it) John Walbridge’s article in ‘Mercian Mysteries’ (1991) suggests Arbury Hill is the ‘omphalos of England’ being further from the sea than anywhere else in the country. Which could be a fun fact.
Roughly square topped hill with a visible bank rampart. Iron Age settlement. Fantastic view across countryside from summit. Highest point in Northamptonshire (224 metres above sea level). Sadly spoiled on one side with a dirt track for motorbikes. Possible connection with Borough Hill to the north east. No official access but a bridleway runs close by. The River Nene rises in a spring to the South east.
Sites within 20km of Arbury Hill
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Borough Hill
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The Larches
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Barrow Hill (Sulgrave)
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Lower Thorpe
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Cup and Saucer Stone
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Arberry Hill
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The Island
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Dallington Heath Causewayed Enclosure
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Hunsbury Hill
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Nadbury Camp
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