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Wolstonbury: henge or hillfort
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danielspaniel
danielspaniel
90 posts

Re: Wolstonbury: henge or hillfort
Apr 12, 2011, 14:59
Ooh, I'm going to have to 'unlurk' for this one!

Hi Gladman, thanks for bumping my favourite site into the latest posts/ forum!

Was it really 6 years ago?!? Unfortunately I am no closer to an answer, but as you rightly point out there doesn't seem to be much practical defensive use in Wolstonburys ditches (which are internal) and banks (which are fairly low).

A thing which I find striking is the hills domination of the landscape when viewd from the North. It has a real 'sacred hill' type presence from this aspect, which is unusual amongst the more rolling 'whale backed' hills of the South Downs. I can't help thinking this would have given the hill a significance to ancient people which would have gone beyond defense.

Maybe the word hillfort is a bit of a misnomer generally - many of these hilltop monuments would have had multiple uses over time (the confusing, overlaid phases of Wolstonburys earthworks seems to confirm this - see: http://apollo5.bournemouth.ac.uk/wolstonbury/wol_intro.html)

My pragmatic side thinks 'animal enclosure', while the dreamer in me likes to think 'ceremonial enclosure'. Either way, I don't reckon it was a "fort"!
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