The Bulwarks (Gloucestershire) Ancient Village or Settlement : The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map:

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Submitted by 4clydesdale7 on Monday, 14 October 2002 Page Views: 9708

Multi-periodSite Name: The Bulwarks (Gloucestershire)
Country: England County: Gloucestershire Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Stroud Nearest Village: Minchinhampton
Map Ref: SO857004 Landranger Map Number: 162
Latitude: 51.702157N Longitude: 2.208324W
Condition:

5	Perfect
4	Almost Perfect
3	Reasonable but with some damage
2	Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1	Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0	No data.
-1	Completely destroyed

3 Ambience:

5	Superb
4	Good
3	Ordinary
2	Not Good
1	Awful
0	No data.

4 Access:

5	Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4	Short walk on a footpath
3	Requiring a bit more of a walk
2	A long walk
1	In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0	No data.

5 Accuracy:

5	co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4	co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3	co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2	co-ordinates of the nearest village
1	co-ordinates of the nearest town
0	no data

4

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custer visited on 2nd Apr 2013 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Lovely walk and great setting.

4clydesdale7 visited on 10th Oct 2011 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Will The Bulwarks ever be understood? Certainly not until a lot more excavation is carried out

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 2.5 Ambience: 4 Access: 5

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**The Bulwarks (Gloucestershire)** submitted by 4clydesdale7 : The NNW Inner/Southern Ditch looking WSW (Vote or comment on this photo)

The Bulwarks at Minchinhampton (not to be confused with The Bulwarks at Haresfield NNW of Stroud) are a series of several discontinuous earthworks second in extent in the County only to Bagendon. Unlike Bagendon which has been excavated at various different points The Bulwarks have only been the subject of one excavation that being carried out by E.M.Clifford in 1937. Thus there are many questions about the large Minchinhampton site that remain to be answered.

What is known with some certainty is not necessarily immediately noticeable on visiting the site. There have been numerous other operations within the area from Round Barrows to Bowl Barrows, Pillow Mounds, Medieval Quarries, Woodland Enclosure Ditches, Craters made by trees uprooted in storms (until the early 20th Century thought to be pit dwellings) 2nd World War antiglider-landing trenches and golf course bunkers. The pastscape website has masses of detail about these extras!

Understanding of the site began to emerge when it was realised that the site was probably but a part of an even more extensive set of Earthworks including Amberley Camp (with its Pinfarthings extension) and the Rodborough Camp (not Fort which is a later folly). Tt is difficult to see purpose in The Bulwarks unless they are regarded as some form of defence for those other parts and even then by Iron Age standards the 'defence seems to be inside out' the ditch being on the inside of the Bank! A modern theory now appearing is that it may be an Iron Age Woodland Bank or Animal Enclosure. Not one of these theories makes more sense than any other. With no occupational evidence emerging (except in Amberley Camp) the notion that it may be a Dobunni Settlement is fast receding. G. Witts entry (Camp 71) suggesting it was a settlement is probably now inaccurate.

The single ditch is cut out of the underlying great oolite (no easy task) - it is 2m deep and 6m wide. The Bank has a base width of about 9m and height of up to 2m.

The Ditch and Bank lie in a NW quadrant curve between the small villages of Box in the South and Hyde to the Northeast and are almost 2km long. At two points on the North side the Ditch and Bank are doubled up by another Ditch and Bank which is clearly shown on the Pathfinder and Explorer maps. The various sections including the Ditch and Bank in 'The Park' (South of Hyde but North of Minchinhampton) are dealt with separately by pastscape.

All in all the entire 600 acres (all three sites) are quite perplexing intriguing and worth several visits, even to meet in August/September the returning exquisite Blue Adonis Butterfly.
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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
565m SW 225° Beaudesert Park Standing Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SO853000)
1.0km NW 326° Amberley Cross Bank* Misc. Earthwork (SO85130124)
1.1km NNW 333° Amberley Camp* Misc. Earthwork (SO852014)
1.3km NNW 347° Whitefield's Tump* Long Barrow (SO85400170)
1.4km ENE 77° The Cobstone* Holed Stone (SO87050070)
1.5km ESE 104° The Lang Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SO87170004)
1.7km SSE 167° Oldfield Wood* Chambered Tomb (ST861987)
1.8km E 99° Bubblewell* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SO875001)
1.9km S 176° Hazlewood Copse Camp* Hillfort (ST85829850)
1.9km E 80° The Bulwarks - East 1 and 2 - Minchinhampton* Misc. Earthwork (SO87620072)
2.0km N 354° The Horestone (Sullivan)* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SO85490240)
2.0km N 2° The Horestone (Rodborough)* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SO85770241)
2.3km SSE 153° The Oven* Round Barrow(s) (ST86769832)
2.6km S 172° Lechmore Tump* Long Barrow (ST86049783)
2.7km E 100° Long Stone (Minchinhampton)* Standing Stones (ST88359992)
2.8km ESE 104° Gatcombe Lodge* Long Barrow (ST88399972)
2.9km ESE 119° The Tingle Stone* Long Barrow (ST88239899)
2.9km NNW 347° Rodborough Camp* Ancient Village or Settlement (SO85050324)
2.9km S 174° Lechmore Round Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (ST860975)
2.9km E 92° Crackstone Long Barrow* Long Barrow (SO88650030)
3.0km SE 133° Avening burial chambers* Burial Chamber or Dolmen (ST87899837)
3.0km NNW 342° Bowl Hill Circle* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SO8476403248)
3.2km NNW 327° Woodchester Roman Villa* Ancient Village or Settlement (SO8394503128)
3.5km ENE 75° Hyde Tumulus 2* Round Barrow(s) (SO89070130)
3.5km ENE 72° Hyde Tumulus 1* Round Barrow(s) (SO89060149)
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