Ambush on Woodbury Hill
Set off from Bere Regis early on a foggy grey Sunday morning, to explore the Iron Age hillfort on Woodbury Hill.
Bere Regis and, half-lost in fog, Woodbury Hill.
Down North Street, along Blind Lane, and onto a narrow footpath through a foxy-smelling copse. Nipped warily across the busy main road, and began to climb through cattle pasture.
Bere Regis hiding in the fog. A clock in the church tower that rings the hour with a cracked bell.
Down some steps, across a sunken lane, and back up the bank on the other side:
The way is well-marked.
Winter on Woodbury Hill.
Out of the woods, and across the fields, into a landscape of strange earth banks and platforms.
Woodbury Hill Iron Age hillfort, a single bank and ditch hillfort, with an outer counterscarp bank. There's no record that it has ever been excavated, but there has been so much post-Iron Age activity on the site, probably few traces of the Iron Age remain.
From the 13th century right through to the 19th century, Woodbury Hill was the site of one of the largest fairs in southern England. There are also records of a 15th century chapel, site of pilgrimage, on the site.
"On Woodbury hill, about half a mile from the town [of Bere Regis], there is a circular camp, comprehending an area of ten acres; and to the west of it are the site of the ancient chapel of Sancta Anchoretta, and a well called Anchoret’s well... A fair is held, Sept. 18th and the four following days, on Woodbury Hill, for horses, horned cattle, sheep, cloth, and cheese." A Topographical Dictionary of England - Samuel Lewis (London, 1831).
Foundations of the medieval chapel, associated with a Holy Well, were still being reported as visible in the early 19th century but have vanished today.
"The well was necessarily very deep and according to tradition a golden table or tablet had been hidden in it. The well was reported to have water with remarkable healing properties and people made annual pilgrimages to it on September 21st, the date of its dedication, to drink the water." www.bereregis.org/villagewells.htm (Extract from 'Well Well Well' - a book on the Wells, Pumps & Boreholes of Bere Regis, by John England.)
Woodbury Fair features as Greenhill Fair in Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd.
Agriculture has also taken its toll on the hillfort, with a farm and barns being built inside the fort, and with banks, ditches and entrances being ploughed out over the years.
Aerial photo of the site from the 1930s (courtesy of the Bere Regis village website). By this time, Woodbury Fair had become a two day funfair.
Old cottages on Woodbury Hill.
The hillfort itself is on private land, but there is a footpath that follows two sides of the ramparts.
It was at this stage that I realised I was being followed...
...and I found myself having to test the defensibility of the ramparts, armed only with a big stick, holding off a herd of fifteen lively young heifers. For a while they stood me at bay, but after a while I was able to proceed along, my back to the ramparts, waving my big stick and holding out my arms to make myself look ENORMOUS and fierce whenever they came too close.
The enemy defeated. Actually this gate had been left open, and I shut it to escape. When the farmer checks up on their livestock later, they will probably curse me. But at least they will be cursing my live body, rather than my trampled remains.