Bury Ditches

2023-03-27T08:20:22Z

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{{Short description|Iron Age hillfort in Shropshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Bury Ditches MMB 03.jpg|thumb|300px|View of Bury Ditches Hill Fort.]]
[[File:Bury Ditches Digital Terrain Model.jpg|thumb|3D view of the digital terrain model]]
'''Bury Ditches''' is a [[British Iron Age]] [[hill fort]] between [[Clun]] and [[Bishop's Castle]] in the [[Shropshire Hills]] of central [[England]].<ref name=fort>{{cite web|url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=4930|title= Bury Ditches (Shropshire) - Hillfort in England in Shropshire|website=Megalithic.co.uk|access-date=21 October 2018}}</ref>

== Site ==
The site is managed by [[Forestry England]]. Storms in the 1970s and 1980s led to the removal of woodland from the hill fort site on the crown of the hill, from which today the views are open in all directions.

There is a car park within an easy uphill walk of the summit.

== Description ==
Bury Ditches is often rated as a spectacular example of a surviving hill fort as it forms a neat oval or [[ellipse|elliptical]] shape and is situated on the crown of a hill called Sunnyhill and comprises up to four multi-vallate ditches<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/multivallate|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181021111448/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/multivallate|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 October 2018|title=multivallate - Definition of multivallate in English by Oxford Dictionaries|website=Oxford Dictionaries - English|access-date=21 October 2018}}</ref> and rampart banks as part of its defensive [[earthworks (archaeology)|earthworks]] and two well preserved entrance ways.<ref name=fort/>

From the summit views are clear to the [[Long Mynd]], [[Corndon Hill]] and other [[Shropshire Hills AONB|Shropshire Hills]].

Waymarked walks cross the site and pass through the woodlands below. The [[Shropshire Way]] and [[Jack Mytton Way]] pass below the site and [[Wild Edric's Way]] crosses adjacent to it also.

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080511222001/http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/roots/walks/bur/bur_01.htm Walking guide to Bury Ditches with photo from Shropshire County Council]
*[https://www.forestryengland.uk/bury-ditches Bury Ditches Forestry England webpage]
*[http://www.roman-britain.co.uk/places/bury_ditches/ Bury Ditches on the Roman-Britain website]
*[https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=4028008 Photos of Bury Ditches and surrounding area on geograph]

{{coord |52|26|49|N|2|59|27|W|type:landmark_region:GB-SHR|display=title}}

[[Category:Hill forts in Shropshire]]
[[Category:Hills of Shropshire]]

{{Shropshire-geo-stub}}

Iscalis

2022-10-18T16:52:47Z

82.9.239.8:

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Iscalis''' was a [[Roman Britain|Roman]] settlement described by [[Ptolemy]].<ref name=cunliffe>{{cite journal| format = [[PDF]] | last= Cunliffe |first=Barry|title=Excavations at Gatcombe, Somerset, in 1965 and 1966|journal=Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelæological Society|year=1967|volume=11|issue=2| pages = 126–60 | url = http://www.ubss.org.uk/resources/proceedings/vol11/UBSS_Proc_11_2_126-160.pdf |access-date= 30 April 2011 }}</ref> The exact location has not been clearly identified but the possible sites are in the modern [[Ceremonial counties of England|ceremonial county]] of [[Somerset]], England.

One of the possible sites is at [[Gatcombe, Somerset|Gatcombe]] which was occupied from the middle of the 1st century until at least the fifth century, demonstrated by the coins of [[Theodosius I|Theodosius]], [[Magnus Maximus]] and [[Arcadius]] which have been found. The full extent of the site is unclear, beyond a specific villa but there is some evidence that the site is much more extensive, possibly forming a village or even a town.<ref name="nmrroman">{{PastScape|mname=Gatcombe Settlement | mnumber = 197955 | accessdate = 30 April 2011}}</ref>

The second possible site identified is [[Charterhouse Roman Town]].<ref name="PRB">{{cite book | last = Rivet | first = A. L. F. |author2=Smith, Colin | title = The Place-Names of Roman Britain | publisher = BT Batsford | year = 1979 | location = London}}</ref> The settlement grew up around the north-western edge of prehistoric [[lead]] and [[silver]] [[Mining|mines]], which were exploited by the [[Roman Empire|Romans]].<ref name = "MLI">{{cite journal | last = Elkington | first = H. D. H. | title = The Mendip Lead Industry | journal = The Roman West Country: Classical Culture and Celtic Society | year = 1976}}</ref> Extraction is thought to have begun as early as AD 49.<ref name="havinden">{{cite book| last = Havinden | first = Michael | title = The Somerset Landscape|publisher=Hodder and Stoughton|location=London|series= The making of the English landscape | pages = 58–9 | isbn = 0-340-20116-9 | year = 1981}}</ref> An [[amphitheatre]] stood west of the settlement. It is the only one in England to exist at a lead mine and is additional evidence of the importance of Mendip lead to the Romans.<ref>{{cite book | last = Dunning | first =Robert |title=A History of Somerset | year = 1983 | publisher = Phillimore & Co | location = Chichester |isbn=978-0-85033-461-6 }}</ref>

Another suggestion is that Iscalis was at the mouth of the [[River Axe (Bristol Channel)|River Axe]] near [[Bawdrip]]. River Axe is Brean Down not Bawdrip.<ref>{{cite web|title=ISCALIS Suspected Romano-British Settlement|url=https://www.roman-britain.co.uk/places/iscalis/|publisher=Roman Britain}}</ref>

Another possible site is [[Cheddar Palace]].<ref name=nhlepalace>{{NHLE|desc=Roman settlement site, Anglo-Saxon and Norman royal palace, and St Columbanus' Chapel|num=1017290|accessdate=26 May 2014}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Roman villas in Somerset]]
[[Category:History of Somerset]]
[[Category:Roman towns and cities in England]]

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Bury Ditches

Iscalis