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<< Our Photo Pages >> Milber Down Camp - Hillfort in England in Devon

Submitted by AngieLake on Wednesday, 08 February 2012  Page Views: 15499

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Milber Down Camp
Country: England County: Devon Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Torquay  Nearest Village: Kingskerswell
Map Ref: SX884699  Landranger Map Number: 202
Latitude: 50.518214N  Longitude: 3.575535W
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
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data 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.
5 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
4

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Milber Down Camp
Milber Down Camp submitted by Andy B : The inner bank (left) and outer bank (right) of Milber Down Camp (Vote or comment on this photo)
Hillfort with stock enclosure in Devon. It consists of three concentric enclosures: the innermost is 116 by 96 metres, the second and third are narrow strips 10 to 25 metres wide, each being defended by a large rampart and ditch.

The entrance to the fortifications was on the lower North West side, facing towards the nearest water supply. It began as an embanked track 7metres wide across the outer enclosure and was probably a drove-way for stock. These gateways were destroyed by the construction of the St Marychurch Rd.

The enclosure is constructed on the northern slopes of a 150 metres high tract of upland between the Teign estuary and the Aller Brook. The site was excavated by archaeologists in 1937-8. They found that people lived in the central and second enclosures and that they used hand-made pottery with curvilinear designs known as Glastonbury Ware.

Source: Dr Kevin Dixon, This is South Devon

Note: An article on Milber Down Camp, where some beautiful Bronze animal figurines were found in the 1930s
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Milber Down Camp
Milber Down Camp submitted by durhamnature : Plan of the camp, drawing from "Journal of British Archaeology" via archive.org (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Milber Down Camp
Milber Down Camp submitted by AngieLake : Here's a lovely colour pic from the back cover of 'Prehistoric Hillforts in Devon' The caption reads: "...is taken from the nineteenth century diaries of Peter Orlando Hutchinson and is a view of Milber Down Camp, near Newton Abbot (Devon Record Office.)" (3 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Milber Down Camp
Milber Down Camp submitted by AngieLake : I was thrilled to finally see these two of the threee small figurines 'in the flesh' after writing about them on Meg P. (An assistant said that the bird must be in storage.) One can see them in the foyer without paying to enter the rest of the collection. The display was artfully done, with a selection of finds from the Torbay/South Devon area placed on top of glass columns and nicely lit. (T... (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Milber Down Camp
Milber Down Camp submitted by AngieLake : This view shows clearly the fine working of the duck figurine. It holds a cake in its beak, and the ripples of the water are shown around its base. (2 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Milber Down Camp
Milber Down Camp submitted by AngieLake : These gorgeous little figures were found at Milber Camp. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Milber Down Camp
Milber Down Camp submitted by AngieLake : Another view of the duck and stag figurines. They are quite small, only about 2 inches long.

Milber Down Camp
Milber Down Camp submitted by AngieLake : The duck and stag on display in the foyer at Torquay Museum.

Milber Down Camp
Milber Down Camp submitted by AngieLake : An information board next to the cabinet display shows the stag figurine.

Milber Down Camp
Milber Down Camp submitted by AngieLake : The front and back pages of the Devon Archaeological Society leaflet on Milber Down. I don't think they would begrudge us a view of this leaflet for our information. It's not the easiest place to get to because of a busy back-road that runs through it. (I am ashamed to say that I've visited sites far and wide in the UK but not tried to visit Milber yet after about 38 yrs in this area!!)

Milber Down Camp
Milber Down Camp submitted by AngieLake : The Devon Archaeological Society leaflet on Milber Down showing a plan of the fort and 'the Milber Treasure', which is apparently still in Torquay Museum. (I still haven't been to see those intriguing bronze creatures!) [I highlighted the sentence about a 'nearby native sanctuary', btw.] (1 comment)

Milber Down Camp
Milber Down Camp submitted by AngieLake : An aerial view of Milber Down Camp taken in the early 1950s. [Copyright: Cambridge University Collection, and Aileen Fox.] Taken from Devon Books' 'The Making of Devon Series', 'Prehistoric Hillforts in Devon' by Aileen Fox, Published 1996.

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 1.1km SSE 164° Doda Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SX887688)
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 12.4km SW 219° The Brutus Stone* Marker Stone (SX8035760411)
 12.5km SW 219° Totnes Museum* Museum (SX8030060419)
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"Milber Down Camp" | Login/Create an Account | 8 News and Comments
  
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Re: Milber Down Camp by Anonymous on Thursday, 02 July 2020
In 'The Quest for the Shaman by Miranda and Stephen Aldhouse -Green it is suggested that the duck figure may relate to the wearing of Mallard duck feathers as they shimmer in the light changing colour and may have been worn by Shaman for there shape -colour changing properties as part of a Bird-Man costume? Could the duck be part of that get up?

Incidentally my Grandfather found a Roman coin at Number 14 Newtake Rise and there was discovered a underground river under the house perhaps the area needs further study?

Jonathan Hutchins jonathanhutchinsartist@outlook.com
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Re: Milber Down Camp Artefacts on display at Torquay Museum by AngieLake on Saturday, 03 September 2016
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I've come across this item in the website of Torquay Museum:

https://www.facebook.com/torquaymuseum/photos/a.489059114449381.109532.152580441430585/1040847095937244/?type=3&theater

It appears that anyone can view the duck and stag bronze figurines from Milber Camp without paying to go into the main part of the museum, so I may try to visit tomorrow.
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Re: Milber Down Camp Historic England Conservation grant by AngieLake on Sunday, 05 June 2016
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£18,000 boost for fort conservation work in Newton Abbot

By Herald Express | Posted: June 04, 2016

HISTORIC England has awarded £18,000 to enable conservation work to be carried out at an iron age hill fort on the outskirts of Newton Abbot.

Last year the Hannahs estate management team worked at the Milber Down Hill Fort to remove invasive laurel in order to preserve the integrity of the site and to allow Historic England to carry out survey works.

(Pic caption) FELLING: Hannahs guest Alex Boys carrying trees at the Milber Down hill fort

This autumn, the team has been invited back by Historic England to carry out the second phase of the restoration project. This will involve felling 150 trees on the site to preserve the structure of the soil layers, to making it easier for survey work to be carried out.

Hannahs land enterprise lead, Nigel Cotterill, said: "Our guests and volunteers will play a vital role in carrying out this work and will be involved in all aspects of the project. We will also recover all the timber to Hannahs for our guests to use in estate management green woodwork sessions.

"Last year we made charcoal from the laurel we felled at Milber Hill Fort and brought it back to Seale-Hayne to be bagged and sold as part of the estate management social enterprise activity, along with firewood logs."

Read more: http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/pound-18-000-boost-fort-conservation-work/story-29342443-detail/story.html#ixzz4AhqoxTeC
Follow us: @TQHeraldExpress on Twitter | theheraldexpress on Facebook



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Re: Milber Down Camp by LittleEnki on Thursday, 09 February 2012
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Great article, and the Flash Earth aerial view is tops!
Littleenki
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Milber Down Camp Street View by Andy B on Wednesday, 08 February 2012
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View Larger Map and the point where the road cuts through the bank is here
View Larger Map
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    Re: Milber Down Camp Street View by AngieLake on Wednesday, 08 February 2012
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    That's good Andy. Didn't think of using Street View to look at the area.
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Re: Milber Down Camp described by Dr Kevin Dixon by AngieLake on Wednesday, 08 February 2012
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A very good article by Dr Kevin Dixon from the Herald Express 7th February 2012:
"When our Ancestors Fought for Milber", in which he describes the seldom-visited Iron Age hillfort, and some of the interesting artefacts found there.
There's also a photograph taken from the road, which doesn't really show much of the fort.

http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/ancestors-fought-Milber/story-15156975-detail/story.html

The items he described are pictured here:
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=a312&file=index&do=showpic&pid=42019
In 2010 the beautiful bronze figurines were kept at Torquay museum.

Though I've lived in the area for 33 years (and for 12 years now have been able to see the hill from my kitchen window!), I've never visited the site, mainly because it's on a busy and quite narrow back-road to Torquay, which I've probably only been along twice - and then driven by someone else. Must try to suss-out whether there is any place to park near there.
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Re: Milber Down Camp by AngieLake on Thursday, 04 September 2008
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In 1938, three small bronze figurines of a bird, a duck and a stag were found here. The following is a description of the items currently held at Torquay Museum:

"These three small figurines of bronze were found during excavations carried out at Milber Down hillfort near Newton Abbot by the Devon Archaeological Society in 1938. The hillfort has three concentric and widely-spaced ramparts; the bronzes were found in the upper ditch fill of the middle rampart.

The figures, which are about 6cm long and up to 3.5cm high, are a bird, a stag and a duck. The bird has a long tail and detached wings; the stag is prostrate, with a raised band extending across its body; the duck is swimming, with a little cake in its mouth.

These are most unusual objects, and it has been suggested that they served some religious or ritual function. They might for example have been mounted on a ceremonial staff, vessel or casket.”

Taken from ‘Treasures of Ancient Devon’, Devon Books, 1996 edition. (Booklet accompanying a short-term exhibition of ancient artefacts at Exeter Museum.)
(See more info on Torquay Museum site page, including photo by David Garner.)

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