Cadbury Camp is an
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
hill fort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
in
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_ ...
, England, near the village of
Tickenham
Tickenham is a village and civil parish near Clevedon and Nailsea in North Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 910. It has a primary school, a village hall and a garden centre, but no shops, although it formerly had a post office.
...
. It is a
scheduled monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
.
Although primarily known as a fort during the Iron Age it is likely, from artefacts, including a bronze spear or axe head, discovered at the site, that it was first used in the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
and still occupied through the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
era into the sub-Roman period when the area became part of a
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
kingdom. The name may mean "Fort of
Cador
Cador (''Latin'': Cadorius) was a legendary Duke of Cornwall, known chiefly through Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudohistorical ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' and previous manuscript sources such as the Life of Carantoc.
Early sources present Cad ...
" - Cado(r) being possibly the regional king or warlord controlling
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_ ...
,
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, and
South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming part ...
, in the middle to late 5th century. Cador has been associated with
Arthurian England, though the only evidence for this is the reference in the Life of St.
Carantoc
Saint Carantoc ( cy, Carannog; ga, Cairnech; br, Karanteg; la, Carantocus), also anglicized as Carantock, Carannog and by other spellings, was a 6th-century abbot, confessor, and saint in Wales and the West Country. He is credited with foundin ...
to Arthur and Cador ruling from
Dindraithou (perhaps the hillfort at
Dundry
Dundry is a village and civil parish, situated on Dundry Hill in the northern part of the Mendip Hills, between Bristol and the Chew Valley Lake, in the English county of Somerset. The parish includes the hamlets of Maiden Head and East Dun ...
) and having the power over western Somerset to grant Carantoc's plea to build a church at
Carhampton
Carhampton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, to the east of Minehead.
Carhampton civil parish stretches from the Bristol Channel coast inland to Exmoor. The parish has a population of 865 (2011 census).
History
Iron Age occup ...
.
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiograph ...
invented the title 'Duke of Cornwall' for Cador in his misleading
History of the Kings of Britain
''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...
.
The hill fort is well preserved, and is managed by the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
through a
Higher Level Stewardship agreement with
Natural England
Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
which involves tree clearing, including non-native
Turkey Oaks, and management of the scrub.
The name Cadbury is derived from "Cada's ''byrig''"; ''byrig'' is the Anglo-Saxon word meaning "fort" or "town", which is frequently, but not exclusively, used to refer to hill-forts.
[ It is one of three sites in Somerset to include the Cadbury name, the others being Cadbury Castle, near ]South Cadbury
South Cadbury is a village in the civil parish of South Cadbury and Sutton Montis, in the South Somerset council area of the English county of Somerset. The parish includes the village of Sutton Montis.
It is famous as the location of the hill fo ...
and Cadbury Hill
Cadbury Hill is a small hill, mostly in the civil parish of Congresbury, overlooking the village of Yatton in North Somerset. On its summit stands an Iron Age hill fort, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Background
Hill forts developed ...
which is also known as Cadbury-Congresbury to distinguish it from the other sites.
Location
Cadbury Camp is situated on a natural ridge between the Gordano Valley
Gordano (or the Gordano Valley; ) is an area of North Somerset, in England. It has been designated as a National Nature Reserve.
The name Gordano comes from Old English and is descriptive of the triangular shape of the whole valley from Cleved ...
and the North Somerset Levels
The North Somerset Levels is a coastal plain, an expanse of low-lying flat ground, which occupies an area between Weston-super-Mare and Bristol in North Somerset, England. The River Banwell, River Kenn, River Yeo and Land Yeo are the three prin ...
, next to the Limebreach Wood
Limebreach Wood (sometimes written as Lime Breach Wood) is a woodland on the south side of the Tickenham Ridge, between Clevedon and Bristol. It is very close to the site of Cadbury Camp.
It is an ancient woodland, with a high proportion of Sm ...
ancient woodland
In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...
and nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
.
History
The hill fort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
was constructed during the Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
, probably by the local Dobunni
The Dobunni were one of the Iron Age tribes living in the British Isles prior to the Roman conquest of Britain. There are seven known references to the tribe in Roman histories and inscriptions.
Various historians and archaeologists have examined ...
tribe, however the details are not fully known. The discovery of a bronze spear or axe head at the site indicates use before the Iron Age.[ The ]Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
spearhead is in the Museum of Somerset
The Museum of Somerset is located in the 12th-century great hall of Taunton Castle, in Taunton in the county of Somerset, England. The museum is run by South West Heritage Trust, an independent charity, and includes objects initially collected ...
in Taunton.
Hill forts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC. The reason for their emergence in Britain, and their purpose, has been a subject of debate. It has been argued that they could have been military sites constructed in response to invasion from continental Europe, sites built by invaders, or a military reaction to social tensions caused by an increasing population and consequent pressure on agriculture. The dominant view since the 1960s has been that the increasing use of iron led to social changes in Britain. Deposits of iron ore were located in different places to the tin and copper ore necessary to make bronze, and as a result trading patterns shifted and the old elites lost their economic and social status. Power passed into the hands of a new group of people. Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe
Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe, (born 10 December 1939), known as Barry Cunliffe, is a British archaeologist and academic. He was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2007. Since 2007, he has been an Emeri ...
believes that population increase still played a role and has stated "the forts provided defensive possibilities for the community at those times when the stress of an increasing population burst out into open warfare. But I would not see them as having been built because there was a state of war. They would be functional as defensive strongholds when there were tensions and undoubtedly some of them were attacked and destroyed, but this was not the only, or even the most significant, factor in their construction".
The fort, which covers about , consisted of ditches and earth banks topped with a wooden fence in an elevated position above the marshy land below.[ The ramparts are apart. It extends approximately from north to south and from east to west. The ditch is around deep and the ramparts rise up around .][
After the Iron Age occupation may have continued into the ]Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
era indicated by the discovery of pottery fragments, a small stone statue of Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
possibly from a Roman temple and coins of Claudius Gothicus
Marcus Aurelius Claudius "Gothicus" (10 May 214 – January/April 270), also known as Claudius II, was Roman emperor from 268 to 270. During his reign he fought successfully against the Alemanni and decisively defeated the Goths at the Battle ...
and Valentinian II
Valentinian II ( la, Valentinianus; 37115 May 392) was a Roman emperor in the western part of the Roman empire between AD 375 and 392. He was at first junior co-ruler of his brother, was then sidelined by a usurper, and only after 388 sole rule ...
.[ The site may still have been occupied into the ]Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, 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- ...
period.[ Several of the finds were uncovered during excavations by ]Harold St George Gray
Harold St George Gray (15 January 1872 – 28 February 1963) was a British archaeologist. He was involved in the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford and later was the librarian-curator of the Museum for the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History So ...
in 1922, although the coin dating from around 370 was discovered in 1945 and a Romano-British
The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a ...
relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
in the inner defensive ditch in 1974. The relief was given to Weston Museum
Weston Museum is a museum in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, England. It was established in 1861. and is home to North Somerset Council museum collection with exhibits relating to Weston-super-Mare and the surrounding area from 400 milli ...
, and loaned to Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. The museum is situated in Clifton, about from the city centre. As part of Bristol Culture it is run by the Bristol City Council with no entrance fee. It holds ...
.[
During ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the site was used for bomb disposal
Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous Explosive device, explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functi ...
and as the location for a searchlight
A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...
battery.
Current management
The site was once part of the estate linked to Clevedon Court
Clevedon Court is a manor house on Court Hill in Clevedon, North Somerset, England, dating from the early 14th century. It is owned by the National Trust and is designated as a Grade I listed building.
The house was built and added to over man ...
. It is now managed via a Higher Level Stewardship agreement between the National Trust and Natural England
Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
. This has involved removing trees whose roots are growing into the earthen banks of the site. In particular non-native Turkey Oaks, which provide a habitat for damaging Gall wasp
Gall wasps, also incorrectly called gallflies, are hymenopterans of the family Cynipidae in the wasp superfamily Cynipoidea. Their common name comes from the galls they induce on plants for larval development. About 1,300 species of this generall ...
s, are being removed. Cattle are also being used to manage the scrub and encourage the growth of flowers such as orchids
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant.
Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...
.[
]
Myths and legends
Local legends associate it with Arthurian England and Camelot
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the ...
, though these may be due to confusion with the better-known Cadbury Castle, near South Cadbury
South Cadbury is a village in the civil parish of South Cadbury and Sutton Montis, in the South Somerset council area of the English county of Somerset. The parish includes the village of Sutton Montis.
It is famous as the location of the hill fo ...
some 50 miles to the south.
See also
* 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 ...
* List of National Trust properties in Somerset
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty (informally known as the National Trust) owns or manages a range of properties in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. These range from sites of Iron and Bronze Age oc ...
References
External links
* {{cite web , url=http://www.somerset.gov.uk/archives/Maps/OS62htm/0501.htm, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426175922/http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/Maps/OS62htm/0501.htm, archive-date=26 April 2012, title= Map of Cadbury Camp circa 1900, publisher=Somerset County Council
Hill forts in Somerset
History of Somerset
National Trust properties in Somerset
Buildings and structures in North Somerset
Scheduled monuments in North Somerset