Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Category: Ancient Sites

Ancient Sites / Folklore / Standing Stones

St Catherine’s Church, Barmby Moor

Dating from around 1272, St Catherine’s Parish Church was largely rebuilt in 1850 replacing much of the original Norman building. In the churchyard, just south of the main door is a stone which has been speculated may have been a place of pagan worship.

Ancient Sites / Burial Mounds

Frensham Common Round Barrows

There is a group of four Round Barrows on Frensham Common. Three are clustered close to each other and the fourth is found roughly 150 meters to the north of them.

Devil / Folklore / Legends / Wells

Mother Ludlam’s Cave

Mother Ludham’s Cave, was so named after the White Witch that was said to live in it. This small sandstone cave can be found in the Wey Valley and is also associated with the ruined Cistercian Waverley Abbey, or more correctly the spring inside it is associated with the monks that lived there. This spring was known as Ludwell and later St Mary’s Well.

Ancient Sites / Chalk Hill Figures

Hackpen White Horse

The White Horse carved into Hackpen Hill dates from 1838 and was created to commemorate the coronation of Queen Victoria. The horse measures 90ft by 90ft.

Ancient Sites

Barbury Castle

Barbury Castle is an Iron Age hill fort and can be found on Barbury Hill. It was around here in 556AD that the Battle of Beran Byrig or Beranburh was fought and the Britons were defeated by the West Saxons.

The Ridgeway National Trail footpath passes through Barbury Castle.

Ancient Sites / Burial Mounds

Whiteleaf Hill Burial Mound

An oval neolithic burial mound dating from 3,750-3,100 B.C. can be foun don Whiteleaf Hill. Within the mound was buried a single male. Animal bones and pottery shards found within indicate evidence of ceremonial feasting when the mound was constructed. It was first excavated by Sir Lindsay Scott in the 1930’s and the again by Oxford Archaeology between 2002 and 2006.

Ancient Sites / Burial Mounds / Hauntings

Gallows Hill, Ivinghoe

Gallows Hill stands 615 feet above sea level and it is thought to have the remains of a Bronze Age barrow on it, bones from which were discovered in the 19th century. At one post medieval time the hill is said to have mounted a gallows from which it gets its name.  It is from this time that the story of its haunting is thought to derive from.

Ancient Sites

Ivinghoe Beacon

The National Trails Ridgeway footpath begins and ends at Ivinghoe Beacon on Beacon Hill. The remains of a late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age univallate hill fort and numerous barrows can be found here. The ramparts are 2m high in places and it is thought that the main ditch around the fort would have been 3.1 meters m wide and 2.2 meters deep.

Ancient Sites / King Arthur / Legends

Uffington Castle

Uffington Castle is an early Iron Age hill fort covering about 32,000 square metres. It was once protected by timber walls on top of the surviving banks and ditches, and faced with sarcen stones. It is likely that the tribe who created the White Horse once lived within this hill fort.

Ancient Sites / King Arthur / Legends

Liddington Castle

Liddington Castle is an early Iron Age hill fort covering roughly 7.5 acres and 909 ft above sea level. Though there is no archaeological evidence to support the fact, it has been argued that Liddington Castle could be the probable site for the Battle of Badon (aka Siege of Mount Badon), first mentioned by Gildas in the 6th Century.