<< 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 BrotheridgeCountry: 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:
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 |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
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 | 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 |
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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
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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614m ENE 77° Tile Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SO89721395)
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