Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill

Also known as:
Mother Dunch's Buttocks, Sinodun Hills and The Berkshire Bumps
Nearest town:
Wallingford (5km ESE)
OS reference:
SU570925
OS sheets:
164, 174
Latitude:
51° 37' 40.45 N
Longitude:
1° 10' 35.16 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill (Hillfort) by juamei

Image Credit: Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2015.

Image credit: Open Source Environment Agency LIDAR
juamei
juamei Mar 21, 2018
Image of Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill (Hillfort) by rocket

Very abstract painting of The Clumps.

Image credit: Anna Dillon the Artist
rocket
rocket Jun 2, 2011
Image of Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill (Hillfort) by rocket

An aerial view of Wittenham Clumps.

Image credit: Anna Dillon the Artist
rocket
rocket Jun 2, 2011
Image of Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill (Hillfort) by rocket

The Clumps, an oil painting of Wittenham Clumps

Image credit: Anna Dillon
rocket
rocket Apr 14, 2010
Image of Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill (Hillfort) by jamesd

Panoramic view of Castle Hill from Round Hill. The full extent and size of the earthworks is visible.

Image credit: James Davis
J
jamesd Aug 21, 2005
Image of Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill (Hillfort) by jamesd

The view north over Oxfordshire from Round Hill. Landmarks of note from left to right.. St. Peter’s Church in Little Wittenham, River Thames, Dyke Hills and Dorchester Abbey.

Image credit: James Davis
J
jamesd Aug 21, 2005

Articles

Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill

Centenary celebration of Nash’s Wittenham Clumps

Littlestone
Littlestone Mar 10, 2011

“Throughout his career as an artist, Paul Nash (1889-1946) had a special affinity for the wooded hills in South Oxfordshire called The Wittenham Clumps.

“First encountering them in his late teenage years, he was immediately caught by their atmospheric shapes and mystical associations. The Clumps became a rich source of inspiration for him and he returned to paint them many times during his life.”

More here – nashclumps.org/index.html

Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill

Human sacrifices at the Clumps?

Jane
Jane Oct 23, 2003

Archaeologists are investigating whether Wittenham Clumps was a centre for human sacrifice – after the chopped-up remains of a woman were found in a grave at Castle Hill.

The skeletal remains of the women were part of a remarkable discovery by archaeologists of a shared grave containing skeletons of a child and a man.
Read whole story here

Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill

Arsonists torch Dig HQ

Rhiannon
Rhiannon Aug 14, 2003

Great.
From thisisoxfordshire.co.uk

Arsonists have destroyed the site headquarters of a major archeological dig in Oxfordshire.

The temporary building was set up next to Castle Hill, the site of an Iron Age fort at Wittenham Clumps -- where archaeologists are carrying out the first excavation of one of the two beech-capped hills at Little Wittenham.

Hugo Lamdin-Whymark, an Oxford Archaeology project officer, said the cabin was mainly used as a tea room and office for archaeologists and volunteers, who are excavating trenches at the hill fort site.

The fire happened between 5pm on Tuesday and 8am on August 13, when the smouldering remains of the building were discovered by a warden at the Northmoor Trust, which owns the Clumps.

Firefighters from Didcot attended. Ian Rowland-Hill, chief executive of the Northmoor Trust, described the fires as “wanton vandalism”.

Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill

First excavation of Wittenham Clumps

Rhiannon
Rhiannon Jul 23, 2003

thisisoxfordshire.co.uk
thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/oxfordshire/news/ALLNEWS0.html

..a little report about the first dig to be done at the Clumps – and hold on, it’s not all about the Romans..

Skeletons of a young woman and a new-born baby dating back to the Roman period have been unearthed by archaeologists at Wittenham Clumps. While they could be the remains of a mother and her child, Tom Allen of Oxford Archaeology said it was unlikely. The skeletons had originally been buried several yards apart on Castle Hill, at Little Wittenham, near Didcot.

Mr Allen described the discovery as “significant but not totally unexpected”, at the start of the first archaeological dig to be undertaken at the Clumps, including the Iron Age hill fort of Castle Hill.

Iron Age, Roman and Saxon activity has previously been found inside the hill fort -- and late Roman burials discovered outside -- but the site has never been excavated.

The twin beech-capped hills form part of an 800-acre estate owned by the Northmoor Trust charity, which was awarded a £1.7m Heritage Lottery grant “to explore the evolution and future of England’s landscape”.

A further £1.3m has been raised in sponsorship.

At the heart of the £3m project will be a hi-tech visitors’ centre situated inside converted farm buildings at Hill Farm, Little Wittenham. Called a Landscape Evolution Centre, visitors will be able investigate how predicted climatic and economic factors could change the area’s landscape in the future.

An extensive archaeology programme, which is being funded with the help of the Lottery grant, will also be undertaken.

Mr Allen said a geophysical survey of the Clumps by English Heritage had revealed a buried ditch, probably from an earlier Bronze Age enclosure, on Castle Hill.

The skeletons are among the first of many finds archaeologists expect to unearth from a period spanning nearly 4,000 years.

Following careful examination, the skeletons were removed for investigative tests.The archaeologists were able to establish that the skeletons were of Roman origin because of pottery remains with the bodies.

Ian Rowland-Hill, chief executive of the Northmoor Trust, said: “This is a unique landscape and we want to explore why humans chose to live on Castle Hill.”

The excavations will continue until the end of August, and the project is looking for volunteers to help out. There is a campsite close to the site, with showers and food provided by the Northmoor Trust.The standard working day is from 8am to 4.30pm. A charge of £80 per week will be made towards the cost of food and accommodation. Call 01865 263800 for an application form or write to Denise Price, Oxford Archaeology, Janus House, Osney Mead, Oxford, OX2 OES.

Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill

albion
albion Jun 8, 2002

I lived nearby in the village for three weeks in January 1993 (house and cat-sitting). Hiked up the hill to the clumps every day, and walked for miles through the woods and fields of winter barley. This is an extraordinary area! Even on damp wet days. That year January saw roses in the Abbey and forsythia in gardens; it had been a wet autumn apparently. I took a lot of photographs (35 mm) and I will try to scan them in and post them at some point...
peg

Folklore

Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill
Hillfort
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Aug 27, 2004

If you see a raven when you visit the Clumps, keep your eye on it. It’s said to be the guardian of a huge treasure, at a place called ‘The Money Pit’. But I expect it’ll be too wiley to give away the exact spot.

The poem tree that Riotgibbon mentions is a beech (the beech plantation clumps were created in the 1740s, by the Dunch family – hence the rather disrespectful name ‘Mother Dunch’s Buttocks’). As young vandals everywhere will recognise, beeches have ideally smooth bark for carving graffiti into, and it persists for years, becoming more and more distorted as the tree grows. Apparently the tree died in the 1990s but some of the trunk still stands. In 1994 a plaque was put up to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the poem, and it has on it a tracing of the poem that was taken in 1965, when it was a bit more legible. (see northmoortrust.co.uk/home/countryside/nature_reserve/past_land_use for more)

Miscellaneous

Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill
Hillfort
R
RiotGibbon Aug 29, 2001

Joseph Tubbs, 1844 – carved this poem on “Poem Tree” up the Clumps ...

As up the hill with labr’ing steps we tread
Where the twin Clumps their sheltering branches spread
The summit gain’d, at ease reclining lay
and all around the wide spread scene survey
Point out each object and instructive tell
The various changes that the land befel.
Where the low bank the country wide surrounds
That ancient earthwork form’d old Murcia’s bounds.
In misty distance see the barrow heave,
There lies forgotten lonely Culchelm’s grave.
Around this hill the ruthless Danes intrenched,
and these fair plains with gory slaughter drench’d,
While at our feet where stands that stately tower
In days gone by uprose the Roman power
And yonder, there where Thames smooth waters glide
In later days appeared monastic pride.
Within that field where lies the grazing herd
Huge walls were found, some coffins disinter’d
Such is the course of time, the wreck which fate
And awful doom award the earthly great.”

Topics

wittenham clumps and didcot towers 11
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Jul 2014
Paul Nash and Wittenham Clumps 15
W
whipangel
Jan 2006

Sites within 20km of Wittenham Clumps and Castle Hill

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