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<< Our Photo Pages >> Clearbury Ring - Hillfort in England in Wiltshire

Submitted by JimChampion on Wednesday, 01 June 2005  Page Views: 18912

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Clearbury Ring Alternative Name: Clearbury, Claybury Ring
Country: England County: Wiltshire Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Salisbury  Nearest Village: Downton
Map Ref: SU152244
Latitude: 51.018777N  Longitude: 1.784676W
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.
3 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
5

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SeanAD367 visited on 14th Feb 2015 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 3

davidmorgan JimChampion have visited here

Clearbury Ring
Clearbury Ring submitted by JimChampion : Looking northeast towards Clearbury from the bridleway track at grid ref SU146239. The large field to the mid-right of the photo is the Clearbury Down "access land". (Vote or comment on this photo)
Hillfort in Wiltshire

Iron Age hillfort with a single bank and ditch enclosing about 2 hectares, with one simple entrance on the NW side.

Access A footpath running SW-NE along the parish boundary skirts around the SE side of the hillfort.
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Clearbury Ring
Clearbury Ring submitted by Kalex6 : Clearbury Ring from the air taken 7th July 2015. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Clearbury Ring
Clearbury Ring submitted by Penthievre : Clearbury Ring in August 2020. The ring is surrounded by a barb wire fence. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Clearbury Ring
Clearbury Ring submitted by davidmorgan : Clearbury Ring from the south, with rooks. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Clearbury Ring
Clearbury Ring submitted by JimChampion : The trees of Clearbury hillfort from the southwest, with a field of barley in the foreground. But is it 'art'? It took a few seconds to compose and snap, then a few seconds of processing (colour enhance and "oilify" filter using the Gimp). (3 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Clearbury Ring
Clearbury Ring submitted by JimChampion : Looking north at tree-covered Clearbury Ring. Just below the flowering hawthorn bushes you can see the shadow of an outer earthwork "step" marked on the OS map (to the southwest of the hillfort). (Vote or comment on this photo)

Clearbury Ring
Clearbury Ring submitted by JimChampion : Looking NNW towards the tree-covered Clearbury Ring from the byway at grid ref SU15602345. This is not a good approach to the hillfort: it is not a right of way, it is steep and overgrown. Better to approach along the bridleway from the SW or NE.

Clearbury Ring
Clearbury Ring submitted by JimChampion : The northwest ditch and rampart (left) at Clearbury, viewed from the triangulation pillar at grid ref SU15242452.

Clearbury Ring
Clearbury Ring submitted by JimChampion : This informative sign is planted on the northeastern side of the ramparts, and some juvenile has vandalised it in the traditional way by removing the word "not". The right of way across Clearbury Down follows the parish boundary in a SW-NE straight line. At Clearbury Ring the parish boundary continues on through the interior while the right of way skirts the southeastern edge of the earthworks. (2 comments)

Clearbury Ring
Clearbury Ring submitted by JimChampion : Southwest ditch and rampart (right) at Clearbury, from grid ref SU15232432. The ramparts were planted with beech trees long ago, as was the fashion to "improve the aspect" of prominent landmarks. Clearbury is a univallate hillfort, meaning that it has a single ditch and bank.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 1.7km SSE 148° Giant's Grave (Downton)* Long Barrow (SU16102300)
 2.0km SSE 148° Giant's Chair (Downton)* Round Barrow(s) (SU1627422705)
 3.4km SSW 208° Gallows Hill (Downton) Round Barrow(s) (SU13592136)
 3.8km N 356° Rowbarrow Salisbury* Misc. Earthwork (SU14902820)
 3.8km SW 231° Whitsbury Down* Long Barrow (SU12212200)
 4.3km SSW 195° Breamore Miz-Maze* Turf Maze (SU1412520266)
 4.3km WSW 247° Round Clump* Long Barrow (SU112227)
 4.6km SSW 198° Giants Grave (Breamore)* Long Barrow (SU138200)
 5.1km NNW 348° Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum* Museum (SU141294)
 5.4km SSW 208° Whitsbury* Hillfort (SU127196)
 5.5km WSW 246° Tenantry Farm* Long Barrow (SU10162219)
 5.6km ESE 117° Templeman's Tumulus* Artificial Mound (SU202219)
 5.9km WSW 251° Grims Lodge Barrow* Long Barrow (SU0957722440)
 6.2km SW 230° Duck's Nest* Long Barrow (SU105204)
 7.1km NNE 33° Grim's Ditch 2 (Wiltshire) Misc. Earthwork (SU19023039)
 7.6km SW 234° Knap Barrow* Long Barrow (SU090199)
 7.7km WSW 251° Furze Down Long Barrow (SU0791621895)
 7.7km SW 234° Grans Barrow* Long Barrow (SU090198)
 7.9km SW 222° Damerham Knoll Camp* Hillfort (SU099185)
 8.1km WNW 303° Neale's Barrow Round Barrow(s) (SU0836228791)
 8.3km SW 230° Knoll Down tumuli* Round Barrow(s) (SU088191)
 8.3km SW 227° Knoll Down Tumulus* Round Barrow(s) (SU0908418750)
 8.4km N 350° Old Sarum* Hillfort (SU13783266)
 8.4km NE 41° Clarendon Park Bowl Barrows Barrow Cemetery (SU20733079)
 8.9km SE 137° Jacob's Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SU21321793)
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"Clearbury Ring" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Re: Clearbury by FordingbridgeFred on Wednesday, 18 March 2020
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Hi there Jim,

Just reading 'Ancient Wars of Wessex' who suggest that it was the Britons who held Clearbury and also Whitsbury and Damerham Knowle, providing the initial boundary line between them and the Saxons. This assuming that the camps were much older and then re-used. The book also claims that the other smaller earthwork at top left of OS map section here in Odstock woods, was later built by the Saxons some 40 years later before they pushed on to take Old Sarum and a lot of what is now Wiltshire. Heywood Sumner flagged the fact that this camp had a double ditch directly facing Clearbury, so sort of stacks up. The fact that we'll never actually know is why I love this stuff so much!
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Street View by coldrum on Friday, 26 March 2010
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Re: Clearbury by JimChampion on Wednesday, 31 May 2006
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From chapter 10 of "The Ancient History of Wiltshire" by Sir Richard Colt Hoare (1812)

Clearbury Ring is a mean earthen work when compared to the very fine specimens which our county has afforded, but it stands pre-eminent in point of extensive prospect, and is seen at a very considerable distance. Its form presents an oblong square, and it has one narrow entrance towards the south-west: the area in encumbered with heath, and planted with trees, to which it owes its very distinguished appearance from distant parts; it contains within the ramparts 5 1/4 acres, the circuit of the ditch is 3 furlong 55 yards, and the depth of the vallum is 43 feet. I think it probable that this camp was occupied, or perhaps constructed by the West Saxon Kings Cerdic and Cynric, who fought with the Britons in this neighbourhood at Charford in the year 519, and the latter of whom afterwards, in the year 552, defeated the same people at Salisbury.

Engraving of the camp's plan, from Wiltshire County Council website.
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