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Daw's Castle
Daw's Castle (or ''Dart's Castle'' or ''Dane's Castle'') is a sea cliff hillfort just west of Watchet, a harbour town in Somerset, England. It is a Scheduled Monument. The name comes from Thomas Dawe, who owned ''castell'' field in 1537. The fort is situated on an east-west cliff about above the sea, on a tapering spur of land bounded by the Washford River to the south, as it flows to the sea at Watchet, about 1 km east. The ramparts of the fort would have formed a semicircle backing on to the sheer cliffs, but coastal erosion has reduced the size of the enclosure, and later destruction by farming, limekilns, and the B3191 road, have left only about of ramparts visible today. The fort may be of Iron Age origin, but was rebuilt and fortified as a ''burh'' by King Alfred, as part of his defense against Viking raids from the Bristol Channel around 878 AD. It would have been one of a chain of forts and coastal lookout posts, connected by the ''Herepath'', or ''military road' ...
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Watchet
Watchet is a harbour town, civil parish and electoral ward in the county of Somerset, England, with a population in 2011 of 3,785. It is situated west of Bridgwater, north-west of Taunton, and east of Minehead. The town lies at the mouth of the Washford River on Bridgwater Bay, part of the Bristol Channel, and on the edge of Exmoor National Park. The original settlement may have been at the Iron Age fort, Daw's Castle. It then moved to the mouth of the river and a small harbour developed, named by the celts as ''Gwo Coed'' meaning "under the wood". After the Saxon conquest of the area the town developed, becoming known as Weced or Waeced, and was attacked by Vikings in the 10th century. Trade using the harbour gradually grew, despite damage during several severe storms, with import and exports of goods including those from Wansbrough Paper Mill until the 19th century when it increased with the export of iron ore, brought from the Brendon Hills via the West Somerset Mineral Ra ...
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Anno Domini
The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", taken from the full original phrase "''anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi''", which translates to 'in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ'. The form "BC" is specific to English and equivalent abbreviations are used in other languages: the Latin form is but is rarely seen. This calendar era is based on the traditionally reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus, ''AD'' counting years from the start of this epoch and ''BC'' denoting years before the start of the era. There is no year zero in this scheme; thus ''the year AD 1 immediately follows the year 1 BC''. This dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus, but was not widely used until the 9th century. Traditionally, English follows Latin usage by placing the "AD" abbr ...
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Archaeological Sites In Somerset
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. It is usually considered an independent academic discipline, but may also be classified as part of anthropology (in North America – the four-field approach), history or geography. Archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology is distinct from palaeontology, which is the study of fossil remains. Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for which, by definition, there are no written records. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the adve ...
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Hill Forts In Somerset
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not as tall, or as steep as a mountain. Geographers historically regarded mountains as hills greater than above sea level, which formed the basis of the plot of the 1995 film ''The Englishman who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain''. In contrast, hillwalkers have tended to regard mountains as peaks above sea level. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' also suggests a limit of and Whittow states "Some authorities regard eminences above as mountains, those below being referred to as hills." Today, a mountain is usually defined in the UK and Ireland as any summit at least high, while the official UK government's definition of a mountain is a summit of or higher. Some definitions include a topographical prominence requirement, typically or ...
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Anglo-Saxon Sites In England
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened within Britain, and the identity was not merely imported. Anglo-Saxon identity arose from interaction between incoming groups from several Germanic tribes, both amongst themselves, and with indigenous Britons. Many of the natives, over time, adopted Anglo-Saxon culture and language and were assimilated. The Anglo-Saxons established the concept, and the Kingdom, of England, and though the modern English language owes somewhat less than 26% of its words to their language, this includes the vast majority of words used in everyday speech. Historically, the Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period in Britain between about 450 and 1066, after their initial settlement and up until the Norman Conquest. Higham, Nicholas J., and Martin J. Ryan. ''The An ...
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Battle Of Cynwit
The Battle of Cynwit, was a battle between West Saxons and Vikings in 878 at a fort which Asser calls ''Cynwit''. The location of the battle is not known for sure but probably was at Countisbury Hill, near Countisbury, Devon. Prelude The Viking army, by tradition, led by Ubba brother of Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan Ragnarsson. Sailed from Dyfed (where they had overwintered) and landed on the coast at Countisbury with 23 ships and twelve hundred men. On landing the Viking army discovered that the West Saxons had taken refuge in a stronghold at ''Cynuit'' (Countisbury?), they perceived that the stronghold was unprepared for battle and decided to besiege it instead, particularly as the stronghold did not seem to have any food or water supply. The battle According to Asser (Alfred's biographer) the West Saxons burst out of the fortress, one day, at dawn and were able to overwhelm the Viking forces killing their leader and over eight hundred of his men. They also captured the fa ...
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List Of Hillforts And Ancient Settlements In Somerset
Somerset is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is a rural county of rolling hills, such as the Mendip Hills, Quantock Hills and Exmoor National Park, and large flat expanses of land including the Somerset Levels. Modern man came to what is now known as Somerset during the Early Upper Palaeolithic era. In the Neolithic era, from about 3500 BC, there is evidence of farming when people started to manage animals and grow crops on farms cleared from the woodland, rather than act purely as hunter gatherers. It is also likely that extraction and smelting of mineral ores to make tools, weapons, containers and ornaments in bronze and then iron started in the late Neolithic and into the Bronze and Iron Ages. The construction of hillforts began in Britain in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC. The reason for their emergence, and their purpose, has been a subject of debate. It has been argued that they could have been military ...
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Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great (r. 871–899). Multiple copies were made of that one original and then distributed to monasteries across England, where they were independently updated. In one case, the ''Chronicle'' was still being actively updated in 1154. Nine manuscripts survive in whole or in part, though not all are of equal historical value and none of them is the original version. The oldest seems to have been started towards the end of Alfred's reign, while the most recent was written at Peterborough Abbey after a fire at that monastery in 1116. Almost all of the material in the ''Chronicle'' is in the form of annals, by year; the earliest are dated at 60 BC (the annals' date for Caesar's invasions of Britain), and historical material follows up t ...
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Tribal Hidage
Image:Tribal Hidage 2.svg, 400px, alt=insert description of map here, The tribes of the Tribal Hidage. Where an appropriate article exists, it can be found by clicking on the name. rect 275 75 375 100 w:Elmet rect 375 100 450 150 w:Hatfield Chase rect 425 150 525 175 w:Kingdom of Lindsey rect 200 170 300 195 w:Pecsaetan rect 250 250 425 275 w:Mercia rect 475 300 550 315 Spalding rect 460 300 550 375 North & South Gyrwa rect 75 315 200 340 w:Wreocensæte rect 350 350 425 375 w:Sweordora rect 40 375 125 400 w:Magonsæte rect 575 375 700 400 w:Kingdom of East Anglia rect 185 400 275 425 w:Arosæte rect 410 450 460 475 w:River Ivel rect 410 475 460 500 w:Hitchin rect 175 500 225 550 w:Hwicce rect 250 475 360 525 w:Charlbury rect 365 525 425 575 w:Cilternsæte rect 430 530 575 565 w:Kingdom of Essex rect 520 650 675 675 w:Kingdom of Kent rect 150 675 295 700 w:Wessex rect 400 725 550 750 w:Kingdom of Sussex rect 285 775 375 800 w:Isle of Wight The Tribal Hidag ...
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Herepath
A herepath or herewag is a military road (literally, an army path) in England, typically dating from the ninth century AD. This was a time of war between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England and Viking invaders from Denmark. The English military preparations, conducted under the leadership of King Alfred of Wessex, included fortified burhs or places of refuge and connecting herepaths using existing routes or new works. As superior or safer roads, sometimes following ridgeway routes, herepaths were intensely used by ordinary travellers and hauliers. Where these roads exist today, local legend often imputes them with magical, romantic or mystical origins in prehistoric time and the name is rather wantonly applied to any old trackway, especially in the region of Wessex. In the Old English language Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It ...
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Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn ( cy, Afon Hafren) to the North Atlantic Ocean. It takes its name from the English city of Bristol, and is over 30 miles (50 km) wide at its western limit. Long stretches of both sides of the coastline are designated as Heritage Coast. These include Exmoor, Bideford Bay, the Hartland Point peninsula, Lundy Island, Glamorgan, Gower Peninsula, Carmarthenshire, South Pembrokeshire and Caldey Island. Until Tudor times the Bristol Channel was known as the Severn Sea, and it is still known as this in both cy, Môr Hafren and kw, Mor Havren. Geography The International Hydrographic Organization now defines the western limit of the Bristol Channel as "a line joining Hartland Point in Devon () to St. Govan's Head in Pembrokeshire ...
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Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_lieutenant_name = Mohammed Saddiq , high_sheriff_office =High Sheriff of Somerset , high_sheriff_name = Mrs Mary-Clare Rodwell (2020–21) , area_total_km2 = 4171 , area_total_rank = 7th , ethnicity = 98.5% White , county_council = , unitary_council = , government = , joint_committees = , admin_hq = Taunton , area_council_km2 = 3451 , area_council_rank = 10th , iso_code = GB-SOM , ons_code = 40 , gss_code = , nuts_code = UKK23 , districts_map = , districts_list = County council area: , MPs = * Rebecca Pow (C) * Wera Hobhouse ( LD) * Liam Fox (C) * David Warburton (C) * Marcus Fysh (C) * Ian Liddell-Grainger (C) * James Heappey (C) * Jacob Rees-Mogg (C) * John Penrose (C) , police = Avon and Somerset Police ...
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