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<< Our Photo Pages >> High Brotheridge - Misc. Earthwork in England in Gloucestershire

Submitted by 4clydesdale7 on Tuesday, 08 July 2014  Page Views: 5571

Multi-periodSite Name: High Brotheridge
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 0.4 km away from the location you searched for.

County: Gloucestershire Type: Misc. Earthwork
Nearest Town: Gloucester  Nearest Village: Cranham
Map Ref: SO89121381
Latitude: 51.822804N  Longitude: 2.159261W
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.
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
4

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TheCaptain visited on 31st May 2021 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 3 Access: 3 Walking a Cooper's Hill Circuit of the Cotswold Way from Cranham, and passed around the western edge of this massive hilltop settlement with various bits and pieces of defensive ramparts to be seen.

SteveJJones have visited here

High Brotheridge
High Brotheridge submitted by 4clydesdale7 : Inturned Banks at S Entrance (Vote or comment on this photo)
High Brotheridge stands above Brockworth, Cranham, Great Witcombe and Upton St Leonards, all villages close to the Cotswold scarp ESE of the City of Gloucester - the area (some 200+ acres; 80+ hectares) is formed by Coopers Hill in the north (famous for the somewhat hazardous Spring Bank Holiday sport of cheese rolling) extending some 2 miles to the SSW to Rough Park and the nearby Painswick Beacon.

It contains a remarkable array of features inc Iron Age Earthworks (single and double Banks with Ditches); Cross-Ridge Dykes; a Promontory Hillfort; Ancient Trackways and Wells; Fortified/Guarded Entrances; a Paved Trackway/Causeway; some fabulous Ancient Beech Woodland; and a magnificent range of flora and fauna (inc. rare butterflies, fallow deer and muntjac) - some of the views over the Severn Vale to the Black Mountains and the Malvern Hills are quite beautiful -

The area has puzzled archaeologists for over 190 years and little if any excavation work has been undertaken - hence theories abound - the most commonly held view (first propounded by Mrs E M Clifford in 1961) is that (somewhat like Bagendon) it is the site of an extended Iron Age Belgic Oppidum and was probably inhabited by the Dobunni - like Bagendon there are many discontinuous earthworks but there are also many other intriguing features -

On the eastern side by The Buckholt there are two substantial mounds indicating a Guarded Entrance - the mounds sit astride an ancient across-site (WNW to ESE) paved (probably by the Romans) causeway/trackway proceeding eventually to Birdlip (E) and Cranham & Painswick (SSE) which pre-dates the Roman Road from Gloucester to Cirencester Ermin Way -

To the South at Rough Park the double Bank and Ditch earthworks at an entrance turn strongly and defensively inwards -

To the West below the Cotswold Scarp at Fiddlers Elbow on the A46 by Prinknash the site is served by a spur of the Ancient Portway with a substantial 350m long single bank and ditch defending a very steep entrance -

To the North in Brockworth Wood there is a Cross-Ridge Dyke (some 200m long) which is probably the earliest earthwork on site - the Ditch lies to the south of the Bank which is a very strong indication that on the promontory immediately to the north there was an hillfort (now virtually destroyed by medieval quarrying) - here too an Ancient Trackway enters the site coming from another fortified site at Churchdown via Brockworth - it is named Green Street - there is a Deserted Medieval Village at the foot of the scarp and not far to the East lies the famed Roman Villa at Witcombe

Among the several Wells that serve the site can be found West Brotheridge Well above the Fiddlers Elbow; East Brotheridge Well above The Buckholt and Brotheridge Farm and Tile Well between The Buckholt and Witcombe Roman Villa - in Buckle Wood to the East lies the famous Long Barrow 'West Tump' -

The site is referred to in:-
(a) Archaeologia Vol 19: 1821 p170 reporting the observations of Thomas John Lloyd Baker in his work 'An Account of a Chain of Ancient Fortresses extending through the South West Part of Gloucestershire'
(b) Journal of the Cotteswolde Naturalists Field Club 1872-3 Vol VI p 211 by G F Playne
(c) the Archaeological Handbook of the County of Gloucester 1883 Camp No 32 Coopers Hill by George Witts (who perhaps erroneously claimed to be the first to recognise the earthworks)
(d) Bagendon by Mrs E M Clifford 1961 pp157-8
(e) Glevensis Newsletter 11 1977 pp17-22 in an Article entitled 'High Brotheridge' by G T Harding (difficult to follow without an early OS 1:25000 Map)
(f) Glevensis Newsletter 19 1985 pp9-15 in an Article by H Wingham entitled ' High Brotheridge and Leggatts Legends' (again an OS Map will help)
(g) for High Brotheridge - pastscape website Gloucestershire: Stroud: Cranham: Monument 115564
(h) for Brockworth Wood Cross-Ridge Dyke - pastscape website Gloucestershire: Tewkesbury: Brockworth: Monument 115516
(i) for Coopers Hill Promontory Fort - pastscape website Gloucestershire: Tewkesbury: Brockworth: Monument 11519
(j) for Coopers Hill DMV - pastscape website Gloucestershire: Tewkesbury: Brockworth: Monument 872076

A very interesting and thought provoking site indeed - beautiful views when the ancient beech woods open out - if visiting best at first to approach from The Buckholt or Rough Park on the Cranham/Birdlip Road - definitely worth the effort - a study of several early editions of OS Maps Scale 1: 25000 will help identify the positions of most of the earthworks and wells but be careful they are NOT consistent between editions
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High Brotheridge
High Brotheridge submitted by TheCaptain : Bits and pieces of defensive ramparts can be seen from the Cotswold Way at the western edge of this massive hilltop settlement. (Vote or comment on this photo)

High Brotheridge
High Brotheridge submitted by TheCaptain (Vote or comment on this photo)

High Brotheridge
High Brotheridge submitted by TheCaptain (Vote or comment on this photo)

High Brotheridge
High Brotheridge submitted by TheCaptain : The southern edge of the open field to the east of the Cotswold Way, Where it says Settlement on the 1:25000 OS map (Vote or comment on this photo)

High Brotheridge
High Brotheridge submitted by 4clydesdale7 : The highest part of High Brotheridge from the WSW showing two fields rather aptly named Lower Bailey and Higher Bailey (Vote or comment on this photo)

High Brotheridge
High Brotheridge submitted by 4clydesdale7 : Beneath some very deep undergrowth the S mound protecting the Entrance on the E by The Buckholt

High Brotheridge
High Brotheridge submitted by 4clydesdale7 : Paved Trackway above the Buckholt

High Brotheridge
High Brotheridge submitted by 4clydesdale7 : Upper Bank protecting W Entrance

High Brotheridge
High Brotheridge submitted by 4clydesdale7 : West Brotheridge Well

High Brotheridge
High Brotheridge submitted by 4clydesdale7 : Brockworth Wood Cross-Ridge Dyke from W

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 614m ENE 77° Tile Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SO89721395)
 919m SW 222° Cranham Corner Earthworks* Misc. Earthwork (SO88501313)
 2.1km ESE 106° West Tump* Long Barrow (SO9112213241)
 2.5km ESE 119° Bucks Head Round Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SO91321260)
 2.8km SW 232° Painswick Beacon* Hillfort (SO869121)
 3.1km SE 126° Climperwell Round Barrows* Round Barrow(s) (SO91641196)
 3.2km S 187° Holy well (Sheepscombe) Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SO887106)
 3.3km SE 124° Climperwell* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SO91891192)
 3.4km ENE 74° Birdlip standing stones* Modern Stone Circle etc (SO9235214746)
 3.5km ENE 70° Birdlip Camp* Hillfort (SO924150)
 3.8km WSW 248° King Charles Stone* Marker Stone (SO856124)
 3.8km NNE 14° Badgeworth Round Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SO90071750)
 4.1km E 83° Birdlip Roundhouse Ancient Village or Settlement (SO932143)
 4.1km ENE 71° Birdlip Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SO9301015150)
 4.3km SSW 207° Washwell* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SO872100)
 4.3km ENE 58° Crickley Hill* Hillfort (SO928161)
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 4.7km ENE 64° Barrow Wake Barrow Round Barrow(s) (SO93381585)
 4.8km SSW 208° St Tibby's Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SO86880961)
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 5.1km WNW 283° Robins Wood Hill Standing Stones (SO841150)
 5.2km NNW 349° Churchdown Hill Camp* Hillfort (SO881189)
 5.2km SSE 154° Camp Barrow* Barrow Cemetery (SO914091)
 5.4km WNW 289° Well House (Gloucester)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SO84001561)
 5.5km NE 53° Dry Heathfield Barrow Round Barrow(s) (SO93521711)
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