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The Modern Antiquarian Forum » Wychbury Hill » The strange atmosphere of Wychbury. |
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Forrester 77 posts |
Apr 15, 2005, 12:46
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Apologies to Alchemilla, Wychburyman, Hedgerider and morfe --- I've only just found your responses re: my original weblog. The atmoshere aspect does seem to be a common thread, and although i like speculating about the historical reality, in the final analysis this is pretty un knowable. Recently i wrote a short song about all this stuff, and i've been surprised at the reverberations that caused. My psychic impressions (for what they are worth) are of a desperate last stand, with no quarter for the losers, of loss, of a culture that may have been prosperous and unbroken for hundreds of years, maybe longer. I was told that every tree of the grove, was where a warrior chief had been interred, as a boy. Does anyone else know this story? The battle is the key event, i think, and if it was contemporary with the Arthurian/Ambrosian resistance, that sublimation of the culture into poetry and myth, may be all the more pertinent to the site. To lose here, was a death blow to the British hopes of holding together any federation of British Kingdoms, and they must have known that the War was lost too. The conquered population would have been either exterminated or enslaved, and a harsh regime would probably have followed, although this view of the invasion is contested by modern academics. What seems to be the consensus is that the English became more pragmatic about these things as the moved west, so that in Herefordshire, "Waelisc" were spared to work the land as bondmen in a puppet statelet called "Arkenfield". In the east however, there is little evidence of British blood having survived in modern DNA surveys, so this means that either they massacred the (male) population, or, the two peoples are too similar to be differentiated bt the DNA (chromosone) method. Perhaps if we think of the way the English have traditionally behaved to peoples they have conquered, we may guess which of these two is correct, but my own view is that peace 'n love were probably not in vogue! The other problem, is that the English were not very sophisticated back then, and so instead of an historical record, the people had recourse to legend and myth about a defeat they had sustained. Over a few generations the facts get lost, and in a few hundred years all you have left is a shadowy memory, where truth has become conflated with legend, leaving a feeling of exposure to some mighty event, but with nothing tangible to grasp. Thats why i'd be interested in kicking around what we do know together, and I think i know just the place to do it in!!
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morfe 2992 posts |
Edited Sep 22, 2008, 10:58
Apr 15, 2005, 13:04
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Hi Forrester, I enjoyed reading your thoghts above I've not written abput or visited Wychbury for many years, although it is a place that remains vividly in my memory/experiences. In fact it was as there, a s a child, that I began learning and wondering about our ancestors and the 'landscape'. I recall a quote from an old book that I think was called 'Scott's Worcestershire' about water sprites and dryads etc in Ham Dingle, below Wychbury, and indeed the whole surrounding landscape, encroached as it is by urban(e) development, holds something of wonder and a feeling that it was a *big* place on the ancient map. Still not sure about the Saddleback 'Tumulus' on the North West side being a Long Barrow, I used to think so, but this was more out of wanting to believe than anything concrete. Unlike the Round Hill of course, which was partially excavated and dagger, urn, ash remains found. Nearby Kenelm's Well seems to fit into the prehistoric landscape also, with a pool near the source of the spring bearing offerings. http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/Stkenelm.htm As for Wychbury iteslf, I have experienced some heavy lucid dreaming about the place which I will not post here, but you can email me: morfe (at) morfe (dot) co (dot) uk and I'll tell you what I saw/experienced. It's a puzzle that won't leave me alone. Well met :-)
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wychburyman 951 posts |
Apr 15, 2005, 13:54
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The bluebells are nearly out up there - that would be a nice time ;-)
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Forrester 77 posts |
Apr 15, 2005, 14:00
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Yes Indeed! Be in touch...
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Forrester 77 posts |
Apr 15, 2005, 14:02
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I used to work in Ham Dingle, laying the paths and building the fences.... I'll e mail you re: the dreams!
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Forrester 77 posts |
Apr 15, 2005, 14:24
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By the way, you seem to know something about the remains found at Round hill. I never did find out who exactly it was who partially excavated the site. Where did you get your information about the finds?? If it makes you fel better, i have lucid dreams about that place!!
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morfe 2992 posts |
Edited Sep 22, 2008, 10:59
Apr 15, 2005, 14:48
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Ok here goes, in brief: Yeah, Roundhill, the same place one of my dreams happened. In the dream I was at the pool nearby Roundhill, looking at the hill where the obelisk is. I saw Roundhill apear in front of me, open up, and there was a woman in white inside, as if sleeping, in a long chamber of earth. Her arms were crossed over simple white clothing. A middle-aged man with a sword stood over her looking towards Woodbury/British Camp way, he was bearded and standing feet slightly apart, sentry-like with the sword in front, the tip in on the ground, giving the appearance of protection, protecting the woman in the Round Hill. She radiated peace. I mean total, almost unearthly peace. ABove the man, appeared a swan, in the sky. It was unusual to be there as I saw only the profile of a sitting/floating swan, with the emphasis on the neck, which was S- shaped. I then saw the swan become a tree, it was like 3d vision, there was a treetop in the small wood by the RoundHill pool that was 'S'-shaped, and the swan disappeared. The kicker is this: A week later I explained this dream to my grandmother, and we went to find this mysterious tree. In the same place as the dream, in the corner, peering up through the branches, I saw the same shape, a singularly distorted pine-tree, unlike all its brothers and sisters, the top a swans-neck shape. Could be coincidence, but the dream was so vivid I reproduce it here just for what-the-hell.
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Alchemilla 9 posts |
Apr 15, 2005, 15:19
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Let me know when you come up with a date! I'll bring the mead!
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Forrester 77 posts |
Apr 15, 2005, 15:20
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Sounds magical. My impression is that there seems to be some kind of jigsaw puzzle of different influences in this neighbourhood, which although they are not directly connected in any cultural scientific or historical way --- actually impact on each other and magnify the generalized strangeness, and so (this will sound corny!) they ARE actually "connected" in a way we don't /can't understand rationally. Thats why I've conflated all the Kenelm/Wychbury/Bella stuff (and written me song!) in the weblog. The other factor, is water. These places used to be meres (and still are) that filled in along what was a prehistoric lake. I think Wychbury may have been such an important fort, because the approachways would have been boggy and impassable at some points. There are millions of gallons of underground water, so much that Mr. Palethorpe at Broome has built a new lake from a bore hole. I think the place was sacred, in a regional sense, and that water spirits and the like were venerated here. I conjecture, that the English adopted the lore of the conquered people, and made it into a tale of the killing of a King, and that this became a Christianised version of much more ancient practices. I wonder about this Saxon palace; could it be Axborough, Ismere, Churchill/Blakedown? The monks that moved to what is now the town of Stourbridge moved from nearby there anyway...
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Forrester 77 posts |
Apr 15, 2005, 15:22
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Now you're talkin....
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