Featured: Hare and Tabor T Shirts for discerning antiquarians

Hare and Tabor T Shirts for discerning antiquarians

Random Image


Salt Knowe

Stonehenge Tea Towels - Worldwide delivery

 Stonehenge Tea Towels - Worldwide delivery

Who's Online

There are currently, 500 guests and 5 members online.

You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here

Sponsors

<< Our Photo Pages >> The Berth - Hillfort in England in Shropshire

Submitted by VirtHist on Friday, 08 October 2004  Page Views: 37417

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: The Berth
Country: England County: Shropshire Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Shrewsbury  Nearest Village: Marton
Map Ref: SJ430236  Landranger Map Number: 126
Latitude: 52.806923N  Longitude: 2.847004W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
3

Internal Links:
External Links:

I have visited· I would like to visit

Dek would like to visit

TimPrevett has visited here

The Berth
The Berth submitted by VirtHist : A view of the Berth from the same field view as it might have looked in its youth. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Settlement in Shropshire

This is a fascinating and undiscovered mid-Iron Age hillfort hidden away from gaze in the privately owned farmland of the North Shropshire countryside of England. Its magnificent presence was once reflected in the waters of marsh and mere but now it stands, a shadow of its former self, in pasture land, looking like nothing more than a tree covered hill.

Unless you know the farmers - as we do - you'll never see it up close and personal, which is one of the reasons behind presenting it here and showing you both photographic and reconstructed images of how it might have looked in 300 BC.

For an historic site that has been said to be the Welsh king, Cynddylan's, Llys Pengwern (capitol of the kingdom of Pengwern) and even the burial ground for one of the historical contender for Arthur, there is very little known about it and no future archaeology planned for it.

The Berth is very unusual in that it isn't actually on a hill as such, not in the traditional sense of the word and not like most of the other 50 or so hillforts in Shropshire.

The site is, in fact, two enclosures joined by a causeway. It's still unknown as to what the smaller, Outer Enclosure was. Was it the original camp, a burial or religious site or an animal enclosure? No one knows. It's almost the shape of a Bronze Age burial 'Pond Burrow' tumuli. It's hardly a 'hill fort' as its inner enclosure is almost flat but, then again, the Berth is hardly a hill fort, more of a 'mound fort'! Let's hope we find out one day.

The Berth - and the west and northwest Midlands region of what is now England - was once occupied by the Cornovii tribe. (These shouldn't be confused with the Cornovii of what is now northern Scotland or the Cornovii of the southwest who gave their name to the modern county of Cornwall). The name is thought to derive from Corno, meaning "the horn". This has been suggested to be because of the horn shaped Wirral Peninsular in the region’s north. My own theory is that it could be to do with either the Celtic sacred animal of the bull or because they were followers of the horned god, Cernunnos.
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.


The Berth
The Berth submitted by VirtHist : AVALON? The Berth lived on until the 4th Century AD and possibly even further and Andy has given me the ok to post some later reconstructions. This one is of 540 depicting the site if it were 'the churches of Bassa'. There are some very interesting theory that link this site with the burial place for the Kings of Powys, known as "eglwysseu bassa" - "the churches of Bassa"... (8 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

The Berth
The Berth submitted by VirtHist : A view of the Berth c. 300 BC seen from the same Baschurch to Weston Lullingfields road vantage point. Hill forts were for the upper echelons of ancient Briton society; for the chieftains and the kings and queens; for the noblemen and noblewomen or for the warrior class. They would have lived in roundhouses at this time; kept warm by wattle and daub walls and a thatched roof. This kind of dwel... (Vote or comment on this photo)

The Berth
The Berth submitted by VirtHist : (Although this site isn't listed here as a hillfort, my research and the archaeological work of Lily Chitty and a 1962 dig of the site call it so). The photo here is the first view of the Berth I saw when I moved into the area, and just a mile from the site, in 1986. This is a fascinating and undiscovered mid-Iron Age hillfort hidden away from gaze in the privately owned farmland of the Nort... (8 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

The Berth
The Berth submitted by VirtHist : THE BERTH CAULDRON A large bronze cauldron (c. 1st. Century AD) was found at the point where the small brook, which runs into the Berth Pool, intersects the south side causeway. This was probably a votive offering but there are other theories relating to this. After the bronze cauldron was found in 1906 the Society of Antiquaries of London put forward a suggestion in 1907 that the cauldron ... (Vote or comment on this photo)

The Berth
The Berth submitted by VirtHist : This reconstruction is based an an excellent aerial photograph of the the Berth owned by the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT 84-C-215) who gave us their permission to use it on our site. I've made ours black and white as I think it gives it an older, moodier feel. Of course no Iron Age person would have seen this view, unless it was a Druid having an out-of-body experience. Only the loc... (1 comment)

The Berth
The Berth submitted by VirtHist : This is one of my favourite views of the Berth. Beautiful, isn't it? This view is from the Baschurch side of the site, looking across the Berth Pool: home to the Berth Pool Angling Society who pit their wits against the fish of the mere. (This is accessed by a private lane and is not open to the public). Even today you can tell it was once covered by water as walking on the land around the Pool is...

The Berth
The Berth submitted by VirtHist : This photograph of the Berth cauldron, which was found in 1906, was taken by the head of the Berth Archaeological Group (BAG), Shelagh Lewis, whilst visiting the British Museum earlier this year. Shelagh has a meeting with English Heritage on April 7th to see if they're going to give permission to open some new trenches at the site - the first in 40 years. She tells me they're sounding positive...

The Berth
The Berth submitted by VirtHist : Our c. 300 BC reconstruction from the cow track lane view. It would certainly follow all current knowledge to say the Berth could have been a religious site. There was nothing more sacred to the ancient Britons than water. The amount of votive offerings found in rivers and lakes are testament to this - including the bronze cauldron found here in 1906 (I'll display an old photo and our reconstr...

The Berth
The Berth submitted by VirtHist : This is the view from a new driveway opening onto the road from Baschurch to Weston Lullingfields looking eastwards*. Until part of the hedgerow was removed to accommodate the drive, you would never have had such a clear view. It's probably the best view a member of the public can get of the Berth as it is now. I've create this one in black and white to help the cold, winter feel of the day i...

The Berth
The Berth submitted by VirtHist : This is our representation of how the Berth Pool view might have looked nearly two and a half thousand years ago. Approaching the Berth from here would have meant a boat trip as this was where the mere was at its deepest. It’s another quarter of a mile to the causeway to our right. We’ve no idea if this was a form of transport they used to get to the Main Camp at any time, but if it was it ...

The Berth
The Berth submitted by TimPrevett : Iron Age slaves would not have been as willing to have this chain and collar put around them as Portal contributor VirtHist did on this visit by the Berth Archaeological Group on Saturday 25th March. We had the enormous pleasure of a guided talk by Ernie Jenks (left) who carried out the dig here in 1962/3. One of the most unusual finds here at that time were some slave chains like those foun...

The Berth
The Berth submitted by TimPrevett : Boiling Stones. Look at maps of places like North Wales for long enough and you soon start noticing "Burnt Mounds" marked on the map. These are the sorts of stone used for burnt mounds - where stones would be heated in a fire, then moved into water to heat it or help boil meat. The pot could not handle direct heat, so this method enabled some cooking of food, or heating of water. Over time the st... (1 comment)

The Berth
The Berth submitted by TimPrevett : The water level was at least 11 feet higher 2,000 years ago. The water level could also be adjusted, enabling the causeways linking the camps (largest pictured to the rear here) to be flooded, thus any retreat on foot to safer ground is well guarded for those who knew where to walk. The marsh is still in evidence here, and for a sense of scale, look to the people on the top of the rampart beneat... (1 comment)

The Berth
The Berth submitted by TimPrevett : Iron Age Slave Chains. A gathering of the Berth Archaeological Group on Saturday 25th March had the enormous pleasure of a guided talk by Ernie Jenks (right) who carried out the dig here in 1962/3. One of the most unusual finds here at that time were some slave chains like those found at Llyn Cerrig Bach on Anglesey, showing the slave trade was alive and well in pre Roman Britain. Here Ernie d... (9 comments)

The Berth
The Berth submitted by VirtHist : This view of the southern slopes of the Berth is from a cow track lane running off Marton Lane (a lane that runs from Weston Lullingfields to the Baschurch/Middle road) looking sothwest. The view gives you a great sense of the camp’s height and size. Over the hedge, out of site on the left, is the Outer Enclosure. The whole area is surrounded by marshy, damp ground and water margin plants that g...

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Click here to see more info for this site

Nearby sites

Click here to view sites on an interactive OS map

Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)

To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.


Turn off the page maps and other distractions

Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 2.2km SSW 193° Baschurch Ring ditch* Ancient Village or Settlement (SJ425215)
 5.3km W 266° Robin Hood's Chair* Stone Circle (SJ377233)
 6.4km SW 227° Nesscliffe* Hillfort (SJ383193)
 6.7km WSW 253° The Knockin Hoarstone* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SJ36542168)
 6.9km NW 308° Gravelpits Wood Burnt Mounds Artificial Mound (SJ376279)
 8.9km E 89° Grinshill* Ancient Village or Settlement (SJ519237)
 9.5km WSW 253° Kinnerley Cross* Ancient Cross (SJ3382520934)
 10.2km W 269° Woolstone Causewayed Enclosure (SJ32752355)
 10.8km W 274° St Winifred's Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SJ3222624437)
 11.4km N 2° Welshampton Bowl Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SJ43573499)
 11.6km SW 217° Alberbury Cross* Ancient Cross (SJ3585514425)
 11.9km N 2° Hoar Stone (Welshampton)* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SJ43613550)
 12.4km SSE 152° Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery* Museum (SJ488126)
 12.6km SSE 150° High Cross (Shrewsbury) Ancient Cross (SJ492126)
 12.8km NNE 30° Lady Well (Whixall)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SJ496346)
 13.0km NW 306° Whittington Castle* Artificial Mound (SJ325313)
 13.5km ENE 57° Soulton Long Barrow* Modern Stone Circle etc (SJ5441330922)
 13.6km ESE 121° Ebury Hillfort* Hillfort (SJ546164)
 14.1km SW 229° Bausley Hill Camp* Hillfort (SJ322145)
 14.5km SE 132° Haughmond Hill Camp* Hillfort (SJ537138)
 15.0km SSE 150° Shrewsbury Orthodox Church* Cursus (SJ5026310469)
 15.2km ENE 74° Bury Walls* Hillfort (SJ577275)
 15.4km WNW 298° Old Oswestry Fort* Hillfort (SJ295310)
 15.5km SE 126° Upton Magna* Timber Circle (SJ555144)
 15.6km WNW 291° St Oswald's Well (Oswestry)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SJ284293)
View more nearby sites and additional images

<< The Longstone (Pembrokeshire)

Milton Hill >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

Cave Of Forgotten Dreams on DVD

Cave Of Forgotten Dreams on DVD

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"The Berth" | Login/Create an Account | 11 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Re: The Berth by Frogmella on Saturday, 29 September 2018
(User Info | Send a Message)
Fascinating posts from VirtHist. I doubt that it is Arthur in the mound at Berth Hill, but it's a nice thought. It would be wonderful to see it excavated. I wonder why English Heritage are so reluctant.

It seems to be becoming more accepted these days that Arthur DID live. He's mentioned in Y Mabinogion, together with his wife Gwenhwyvar, being described as a great warrior King. The battle of Camlan is also mentioned.

While Y Mabinogion is a collection of oral histories, not written down until the 13th century, oral histories tend to be more accurate than was credited for a long time. The discovery of the Franklin expedition from the evidence of Inuit oral testimony is a good case in point.

Read Phillips and thought it very good.

Only time will tell, but all jolly good stuff, isn't it?

Froggie
[ Reply to This ]

Re: The Berth by DeBrotherton on Thursday, 26 May 2016
(User Info | Send a Message)
Like an idiot I hadn't yet registered, so the previous post, while mine, was listed as by anonymous. I apologize deeply to anonous for placing words in his or her mouth. I simcerely hope they were not distasteful.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: The Berth by Anonymous on Thursday, 26 May 2016
Excellent work on this site.

I've done extensive work on Northern California Maidu tribal sites in the US. There are significant parallels between the two cultures, and ironically, many living Maidu are currently of mixed Welsh/Native ancestry. The Welsh really "fit in" so to speak.

Maidu house construction and village structure were also a strong parallel. For this reason, I'd like to suggest that house door placement might instead signify the home of a shamanistic leader which the Maidu would call an "Indian Doctor". For them regular houses were sunrise facing, but doors to the spirit world were opposite, and so they often had openings on each side E-W if the bldg was to be used for ritualistic or spiritual purposes as well as mundane ones, or if only for the "Doctor" or practices of the Yeponi (jeponi with j as a y) "husbands" or "knowers",-"initiates" of the Kuksu, an intertribal "World Renewed" cult from originally 2500 y.a. That was still active and practiced until the 20th century - if being used for cult ritual exclusively (fairly rare).

Most were dual use for both the priest and day to day. In fact, funerary "burning kumi" which were very temporary "round houses" made specifically to burn votive offerings on behalf of the dead loved one (in the same manner as the Chinese ritual offerings to accompany the dead to the afterlife) is a specifc stand in for the revered dead's actual dwelling (which in earlier times would have.itself have been burnt to go with them), but was substituted so as to not deprive the living of the possession, and they he's an entrance at both East and West so the living could enter and depart from the East, and the spirit of the dead could depart this last feast in their honor to the West. As a note, the didn't cremate the dead, rather bury with heads facing East.

The Kuksu tribal affiliates were generally Penutian language group tribes of the second of three generally accepted migration waves into N. America, and were known as having "acorn culture in more of a horticultural rather than Western agricultural pattern, but were not limited to hunter/gatherer subsistence. More like landscape agriculture with well developed sysrems of trade.

Of the three primary migrations, this one and the first one were generally seen as more Caucasian than Asian, while the last and more dominant in number today was strongly Asian, they still share cultural elements with Asian modern cultures, particularly Japan and China, actual genetic marker matches are much rarer, and very rare in first migration groups (Kenewick Man). Maidu are much more Iberian looking than one would expect, and may carry a recessive trait to very fair skin with wavy dark hair and eyes being indistinguishable from the Welsh or "Black Irish".

Of the over 500 original languages spoken by California aboriginals, Penutians in particular have markedly similar linguistic traits to Indo-European languages, including vocabulary and grammatical structure, although some of the vocabulary might have been introduced as loan words early on in colonial contact, but their proximity to core language may prove to counteract this theory. In other words, there is possibly some very old source commonality that might form a justification for cross cultural comparison, as regardless whether seen from a common source or parallel development point of view, there is remarkable symetry that leads to possible insights here.

I have spent most of my acsdemic career studying California tribes, specifically the Maidu, but have only begun spending quality time with the early Britons, and yet, the common patterns are both unique and intriguing, and I hope you will consider my thoughts here.

As a side note, the only Kuksu Cult tribe that doesn't use the roundhouse architecture is the Pomo, a coastal affiliated group that is also the only adoptees of acorn culture among the tribes of the first wave of immigration. Their va

Read the rest of this post...
[ Reply to This ]

Re: The Berth by Anonymous on Monday, 27 July 2015
This is a most likely candidate for the site of y dref wen' or Pengwern. Really excited about the pictures on this web site which feed the imagination, and hpoe to get to see the site soon. Any mention of Cynddylan in baschurch?
Eglwysau Bassa wrth gwrs.
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: The Berth by Anonymous on Sunday, 22 April 2018
    "Baschurch is confined tonight
    for the heir of the Cyndrwynyn;
    it is the land of the grave of Cynddylan Wyn"

    Eglwyssau Bassa (Churches of Bassa), in a seven-stanza englyn-poem of the same name found in the Welsh cycle of poems called Canu Heledd,[2] generally thought to date to the ninth century:

    Basschurch entry in Wikipedia
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: The Berth by TimtheFish on Wednesday, 05 February 2014
(User Info | Send a Message)
I think I have the key to this site!

Every time there is a rainbow here, one end starts or stops over The Berth.

Now if you're an ancient superstitious people, that has to be a pretty compelling sign towards a sacred site.

Also, if you look at the site in context to the old lake shoreline, and surrounding countryside, it makes no sense whatever as a hill fort from the defensive, or strategic point of view.
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: The Berth - rainbow by Frogmella on Saturday, 29 September 2018
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    I have heard the same said of Stonehenge. The Old Ones weren't daft, were they?
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: The Berth by Anonymous on Thursday, 28 October 2004
I was lucky enough to know the 3 farmers that own the land surrounding the Berth and Berth Pool, and I spent many school holidays exploring this area, and catching copius amounts of fish in the pool as well as hunting for the huge fresh water mussel shells in the shallows.
Speaking from experience The Berth is a truley magical place and there is a certain mystical feeling in the air.
I believe that the Berth is truely a window into the depths of history, and will one day reveal some of its secrets.
A very special place indeed. Infact my favorite place in the whole world. I currently live in New Zealand, and I really miss the place.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: The Berth by TimPrevett on Thursday, 07 October 2004
(User Info | Send a Message)
Agreed; I have read of the Berth, and seen many pictures of it. It is on my wish list to visit, and has been for some time. When one understands the site, it comes alive - instead of just being a couple round bits of earth with funny pointy bits. It must be a relatively rare site-type for mainland England - a defended settlement, defended by a large mere.

The neighbouring remaining glacial pool has also had votive offerings found dating from Bronze Age to Romano-British, including a bronze cauldron from the later period.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: The Berth by Thorgrim on Thursday, 07 October 2004
(User Info | Send a Message)
This is an excellent illustrated article with supporting photographs and full text. Ideal coverage in fact. We shall be very interested to see more photographic re-constructions - they really brings the site alive.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: The Berth by Andy B on Thursday, 07 October 2004
(User Info | Send a Message)
A nice aerial photo via the BBC's Shropshire pages:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/history/2004/01/gallery_hill_forts_02.shtml
[ Reply to This ]

Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>

We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.