East Kennet Longbarrow

Wiltshire Downland

Visited in the autumn of 2005, still quite sharp in my memory. Wandering past Silbury, over the road, and then turning left over the bridge that spans the Kennet, through the fields, in a roundabout sort of way, then up a small steep path thickly covered with briars. At the top you came up on a trackway, to the right was an old large corrugated barn, derelict it creaked in the wind, conjuring up thoughts of hidden dead bodies strangely.

East Kennet longbarrow comes in sight, the track is a crossroad, down to the farm and village of East Kennet to the left, ahead is the farmed downs with dotted tumuli stretching into the distance. The chalk landscape, and regular lines of the field remind me of Clifford Harper drawings, simplistic strong lines etched deeply into the land.

Tired at this point, I sat down and shared my sandwiches with Moss, before we headed up to the long barrow. A barrow still untouched, similar in all probability to West Kennet, but its megaliths lie hidden beneath a layer of soil and turf.

Also trees, for this barrow sits in a ploughed field, spikily outlined by the trees that grow on it, submerged by this verdant growth, it is hidden to the unobservant eye. Trees cause a lot of dissent amongst people, their roots disturb and push the stones out of line, my only defence to this is that the barrows have been there for 4500 years, many trees and bushes would have grown and died over that period, and yet the long barrow still survives intact.

The first thing to notice about the barrow is that it is like Stoney Littleton, lying down the slope rather than parallel to the slope. It outfaces the church in the valley below by the Kennet. The field in which it sits is ploughed almost to the last wild flower by the bank, no hedgerow here, the wind is strong and the world feels bleak as I follow the line of the bank. Photographs remind me of the marvellous view back to Silbury, still as yet uncrowned by Skanska's silver fencing, she looks at peace in the landscape, the strong sloping lines accentuating her presence.

Clifford Harper Illustration

East Kennet has not been excavated though there were some 19th century explorations. It is larger than West kennet, 106 metres x 50 metres, and there seems to be megaliths in the SE under the mound. It has no story to tell, yet stands in the same landscape as West kennet, perhaps denoting some land division between the pair, there are bronze age barrows near this monument, some ploughed out, acknowledging its importance.

Two clans or tribes within sight of each other, the land around farmed or hunted by their people. For many years I had difficulty visualising such people, until one serendipitious moment when a North American Indian emerged from Stoney Littleton, suddenly my neolithic people and their landscape fitted into my mind. Free and easy they wandered the land, colour was part of their world, their beautifully worked arrows told of hunting, the marks of old timber buildings that are occasionally found in the longbarrows told of long ancestral history, the great stones they used tells us of gods and a vision of another world. Dryasdust books tells us of warfare, for some bodies in the barrows had arrowheads in them, but reading Massingham on the Downs, and he says of the later period of Stonehenge and Avebury, that they must have a very peacable people to undertake such a construction. That is probably true, Silbury itself is also part of a vision, a human vision that looked forward into the future and constructed monuments to last throughout time.

Lansdown Barrows and a golden disc.

Recently I cam across the idea that the 'sun disc' found on Lansdown had been misappropiated to another site by someone called Guy Underhill. Though it is a small matter it only seemed right that the evidence should be written down somewhere. The following quote from Paul Ashbee's The Earthern Longbarrow, gives a description.

Its centre appears to have been a boss surrounded by smaller bosses, chevrons, concentric line-infilled circles, more bosses and more infilled concentric circles". He also goes on to say as a word of caution "as tentatively, and perhaps unjustifably reconstructed". This sun disc was found in bits but the photograph of the bits do have many of the features described. He goes on to say that it has "affinities with the disc on the Trundholm sun disc", which comparing the two photos it has. Other types of sun disc found in this area 1) two at beaker grave on Mere Down (Hoare1812-19) and Monkton Farleigh (WAM L11 270), describing thus; small, perforated, cruciform ornamental discs

My own feeling that it is a sun disc, comes from the fact that it is the marvellous sunrises one sees on the Lansdown, of which I have often written about, especially as the sun, rising in the east, seems to emerge from the far downs of Cherhill and Avebury, the great religious sanctuary of prehistoric times.

The badly mauled barrow just outside the entrance to Littledown Hillfort, with a further two barrows in the distance, one of which probably had the gold disc in it.

This excavated barrow (1911) sits on the edge of the scarp, overlooking Kelston Round Hill

The fragmented remains of the Lansdown 'Sun Disc'

Mick Aston's reconstructed drawing of the 'sun disc'

For many years I thought the sun disc was found in the Faulkner excavation of the barrow overlooking Kelston Hill. Subsequently I think the barrow it was found in is one of the three located in the barrow field next to Littledown iron age fort. Three barrows still remain in this arable field. There were a further three barrows within the fort itself but they have been ploughed out of existence over the last hundred years.

One of the annoying things about the slow destruction of these barrows is the fact that a few months ago I spied in a blog -Eternal Idol - a photograph of some of the stuff found up here, which had been auctioned off on Ebay, never having been recorded properly.

Luckily the sun disc was properly looked after, at one stage it made a journey to Germany, because an archaeologist at the time (C.Hawkes) believed it to be the bottom of a bronze age jug from there. The disc made its way back to this country, and is now in the British Museum.

West Entrance to the fort looking towards the Bristol Channel

Bottom of the track has remains of old stone hut, probably to do with 19th century quarrying

Bank and ditch on the east side of the fort

There seems to a cist in the centre according to this drawing

This British Camp is probably the old square enclosure in the field, thought to have been built (in haste) during the Cromwellian battle that took place up here, though it looks more like a roman 'playing card' fort.

Tollund Man by Seamus Heaney

Some day I will go to Aarhus
To see his peat-brown head,
The mild pods of his eye-lids,
His pointed skin cap.

In the flat country near by
Where they dug him out,
His last gruel of winter seeds
Caked in his stomach,

Naked except for
The cap, noose and girdle,
I will stand a long time.
Bridegroom to the goddess,

She tightened her torc on him
And opened her fen,
Those dark juices working
Him to a saint's kept body,

Trove of the turfcutters'
Honeycombed workings.
Now his stained face
Reposes at Aarhus.


II


I could risk blasphemy,
Consecrate the cauldron bog
Our holy ground and pray
Him to make germinate

The scattered, ambushed
Flesh of labourers,
Stockinged corpses
Laid out in the farmyards,

Tell-tale skin and teeth
Flecking the sleepers
Of four young brothers, trailed
For miles along the lines.

III


Something of his sad freedom
As he rode the tumbril
Should come to me, driving,
Saying the names

Tollund, Grauballe, Nebelgard,

Watching the pointing hands
Of country people,
Not knowing their tongue.

Out here in Jutland
In the old man-killing parishes
I will feel lost,
Unhappy and at home.


Bog Queen

I lay waiting
between turf-face and demesne wall,
between heathery levels
and glass-toothed stone.

My body was braille
For the creeping influence:
dawn suns groped over my head
and cooled at my feet,

through my fabrics and skins
the seeps of winter
digested me,
the illiterate roots

pondered and died
in the cavings
of stomach and socket.
I lay waiting

on the gravel bottom,
my brain darkening,
a jar of spawn
fermenting underground

dreams of Baltic amber.
Bruised berries under my nails,
the vital hoard reducing
in the crock of the pelvis.

My diadem grew carious,
gemstones dropped
in the peat floe
like the bearings of history.

My sash was a black glacier
wrinkling, dyed weaves
and phoenician stitchwork
retted on my breasts’

soft moraines.
I knew winter cold
like the muzzle of fjords
at my thighs—

the soaked fledge, the heavy
swaddle of hides.
My skull hibernated
in the wet nest of my hair.

Which they robbed.
I was barbered
and stripped
by a turfcutter’s spade

who veiled me again
and packed coomb softly
between the stone jambs
at my head and my feet.

Till a peer’s wife bribed him.
The plait of my hair,
a slimy birth-cord
of bog, had been cut

and I rose from the dark,
hacked bone, skull-ware,
frayed stitches, tufts,
small gleams on the bank.

Spring and Rivers round Bath

Bath is renowned for its hot spring waters presided over by the goddess Sulis, Romans used this hot water source for a series of roman baths and built a great temple to their own goddess Minerva entwined with the earlier celtic goddess Sulis.

Water by its very nature has a practical use,without it we would die, our settlements are planned round good water sources. Yet, from the very earliest times, it must also have had an important and mystical potency that we can hardly understand today, it is woven into our religious rituals. In the later iron age, when belief systems held that there was an "Otherworld", water would have been seen to mirror this world, a liminal space that one could enter.

Bath is served by the river Avon, a gently winding river that loops and curves through the Somerset countryside as it meanders down into Bristol. Along its path other streams and smaller rivers tumble down the hillside from the downs above. Sometimes this water travels underground, breaking to the surface in water spouts, or appearing at the bottom of the hill to serve medieval corn mills. Occasionally it will break free from its underground way after a particularly heavy downpour and cascade exuberantly on the surface.

Tracing these streams and springlines often uncovers places of early religious worship.



St.Alphaege Well; On the Lansdown coming up the steep lane out of Weston, there is the Well of St.Alphaege, located on the left hand side down a small unmade track to Heather Cottage. There is an old footpath that leads down to this well from the small hamlet of Blaythwaite. Chapel Farm situated on the road that runs through Blaythwaite, was once St.Laurence’s Hospice, for pilgrims on their way to Glastonbury. It could well have been that St.Alphage Well would have had special powers for the pilgrims. Apparently a farmer from North Stoke bought a roman coffin to the well, presumably as a drinking vessel for cattle.
Founding of St.Lawrence's chapel; Probably in 1302 by Bishop Hasershaw is the official date, 100 sheep on Lantesdune -but it is possible that it had earlier roots as a pilgrim's stop (Vol.8 Bath Field Club) Prior Hugh of Avalon founded the cell on Lansdown as a resting place for weary pilgrims and as a beacon for wanderers on the Downs.. A chapel have already existed at this time because of a grant made by Prior Robert to Nicholas de Lanesdun of a messuage (1 acre). Grant made between 1198 and 1219 when Robert was elected and when Jocelyn ceased to be Bishop of Glastonbury.. There are very good sketches of the chapel as it originally was in this particular article.
One further point about Chapel Farm, it stands at a slightly awkward angle to the road, facing west towards the two barrows across the road. The reason for its odd angle is that a chapel or church must have been incorporated in the farmhouse building, it leads to the intriguing possibility that the chapel was set up in direct opposition to the pagan bronze age barrows. If this is so, then it gives this site a very early beginning probably dating back to the first evangelising "desert"monks of the early centuries of christianity. It well maybe that this is one of the roman trackways leading from Brockham End to Bath; there is a notable marking of boundaries to be found east of Bath along the Fosse Way the Three Shires Stones, http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/2308 which delineate the boundaries of Gloucester, Wiltshire and Somerset.. though this is a mock dolmen it may actually have represented some stones that had been found here in the past.
Lox brook/Locksbrook; Another powerful source of water that can be found in Weston, is the Loxbrook, note; Lox brook = Loxan - could possibly have meant salmon from the latin laxan. This rises at the foot of Kelston Round Hill, and must have been feed by underground springs that percolated down. This powerful brook, fed two mills in the village of Weston, these two mills were mentioned in the Domesday book, the wheel pit of one can be found, at the beginning of the village at the bottom of Lansdown lane.

The other mill was at the cottages in Weston Lane. The Loxbrook must have run through the centre of the village following the main road. At the junction of the pedestrian crossing it veered to the left, through the old part of the village, the high wall, probably built in the 19th century, on the left must have been a defensive barrier, when at times it flooded.

Flooding occurred periodically, caused by heavy rainfall on the top of the hills, water would gather and release its force with often catastrophic results. At times when it floods, the water rushes through the village, winding its way past the war memorial down Manor Road, and into the small valley of gardens betwixt Weston Lane and Weston Park. It then travels across Weston Lane, down the small steep sided (probably a waterfall centuries ago) of Gainsborough Gardens to follow its path via Locksbrook cemetery to the River Avon. In the 1960s a flood occurred, that knocked down a heavy wall in the valley, and managed to drown two ponies further down the valley.

In the 19th century it is recorded that a man saved a boy from being swept away in the High Street. Even today, flooding still occurs, though obviously the brook has been culverted.
Celtic spoons found at Loxbrook; One other interesting fact is that near the end of the brook before it joins the River Avon a pair of “Celtic” spoons were found. To quote (taken from Rev.Preb.Scarth 1870). “they were found while clearing the ground for quarrying stone to form a new road, and lay near the stream, at the depth of about 7 feet”. These spoons, of which other pairs have been found in England, Wales and Ireland, are considered to be early christian spoons, probably dating from the 3rd or 4th century. Its interesting that they should be found just outside Bath, and near to a local stream. This leads one to believe that they were used for a baptismal rite, one spoon normally has a small hole in its bowl, also they are often incised with a faint cross in the bowl. The other characteristic is distinctive celtic curvilinear patterns that are found at the top of the spoons.

On a 19th century map stones are marked at this end of the Lockbrook, but they must have disappeared when the new road was built.

Bitton; In a previous essay about North Stoke, I have referred to the conjunction of the River Boyd with the River Avon at Bitton, this would only have been about four miles down the road from the Locksbrook. Again the same significance of the importance of water at a meeting place of water is highlighted. In this instance a bronze age barrow marks this spot; a couple of hundred yards away, is the church which probably also sits on old roman foundations with a mention of a “heathen temple” nearby.
Northstoke, with its strong water spout, that forms a stream that runs down the south boundary of the churchyard, (coincidentally echoing the Locksbrook that ran down by the side of the cemetery at Lower Weston) and roman villa near the church also points to the strong christian association with water, and the more practical aspect of roman sensibilities and a good water supply.
At Keynsham the River Avon meets the River Chew at a confluence. it is here that the small Chew comes to an end, flowing into the Avon quietly without any fuss. This small river Chew must have been one of the waterways that prehistoric man would have travelled along, an inland waterway linking the high downlands from the Mendips to the area around Bath. Stanton Drew stone circle, lies on a stretch of the Chew a few miles further west, and this bronze age circle has an avenue leading down to the river from the circle. This may echo what is being found in the more famous site of Stonehenge, where a long trackway from Durrington Walls also leads down to a different river Avon. These are seen as ceremonial pathways, and Stanton Drew circle with its long history of timber circles and then stone may have been part of a pattern of religious activity that we unable to comprehend today, but encompassing within it a reverence for water.
Pucan Wylle; There is also another spring that may have risen on Dean Hill Farm, this is mentioned in the Boundaries of the Lands Granted to Aethelare by King Edmund A.D.946 this little spring is called Pucan Wylle, an anglo saxon name.
Pucan Wylle is mentioned in the Bath Nat.History.Soc as being under Kelston Knoll and a 10th saxon charter gives it as a boundary;- This synd tha land gemeru the sceotath dun to Puck's Spring (these are the bounds that run down to Puck's Spring) There is also mention of a Black Spring, which could well be the "spout" marked to the west of Pen Dean Farm, "Swa up be Broce thar Black Wylle ut scyt" (from the Black Spring to the Dairy Farm to the west of where the Black Spring gushes forth). But there again there is Little Spring "Swa be Bege? to Lytle Wylle" (so by the corner/bend? to Little Spring, and then from Little Spring to Puck's Spring. Also mentioned in this Saxon list is the intriguing "Play Dyke" (from the old Cattleshed with a house attached to it which Aethelare possessed to the Play Dyke). There is also mention of Ael's Barrow, which according to this article states that it stood by the Camp (littledown) along the north slope of the great combe (Midridge?) Elle Beorh is also Aeles Beorh.........

The Roman Temple of Nettleton Shrub

Old blog brought forward July 2006

The little Bybrook that still flows through this valley

The roman temple of Nettleton Scrubb, to be found by the side of the old Fosse Way.

As always intrigued by the religious buildings that pattern our history, curiosity made me seek out Wedlake's book of Priestley's excavation of this site in the 1930s and also the 1970s . The excavation was large and uncovered three stylistically different types of temples over the time period, from probably 46 AD to the withdrawal in the beginning of the 5th century.

Let us first set the scene, the buildings were probably set up at the same time as the Fosse Way, and there is slight evidence of an earlier native shrine - Dobunnic coins have been found. There was also by the way, two prehistoric axes found in the ditches, and Lugbury longbarrow is not too far away.

So here we have the tramp of the conquering romans over the defeated local tribes, did they surrender willingly? perhaps not for there is evidence of a burnt level in the first circular temple. Subjugation comes hard and there must have been bitter feelings as the romans took over control of lands and shrines. This period as seen from the eyes of the natives can only be conjectured and imagined, but Bath which is not too far away was probably a central large Imperial estate, the many villas only coming at a much later date as hostility eased but perhaps lay simmering under the surface.

How land was apportioned or whether local people were used as slaves we cannot know, but there was a great deal of industrialisation in this part of the West country, Camerton was the source of coal for the "eternal fire" that burnt in the temple at Bath, and of course for fuelling the industrialised processing of lead from the Mendips, and later pewter making was to be found at Camerton, Lansdown and also at Nettleton Scrubb. The following photograph shows a mould for pewter making which is on display at the Roman Baths.

Pewter mould at Roman Museum Bath

There is a general plan of excavations 1938-1947 and 1956-1970 from the Priestley dig, and if the photos are to be believed many of the walls still stood at 6 foot when uncovered, but quarrying of the rock and lime burning kilns bit into some of the remains. It is a beautiful plan drawing which probably belies the difficulty of trying to reconstruct the different buildings. The shrine complex was to the west of the Fosse Way, on the other side of the road to the east stood a triangulated three ditch and bank 1st C Ad camp,

Slight banks adjacent to Fosse Way

though an editorial note says that it is interpreted as an enclosure. Cemetery A is indicated here plus 3 buildings. A road crosses from this camp heading straight to the shrine enclosure, the modern Bath/Cirencester lane bisects one corner of the camp. To return over the road to the complex of buildings that surround the shrine, one of which located down by the Northmead brook was a "strong house"....

The temple stood on a knoll overlooking the brook, and though the course of the brook has changed in modern time, it would have overlooked the brook with an entrance served by the road that came in from the east, and with a building to the north.. The whole small area of the shrine complex/settlement bounded by natural banks would have been about 600 feet square, .....

Its a beautiful little valley, fairly untouched by modern agricultural, and has become a conservation area. The slopes on either side of the brook are covered with short grasses and wildflowers, Wild flowers in the valley

and on the afternoon I was there dozens of butterflies. Walking along the path the brook is to the left, and you can also see the "canalized" effect of the old course that the romans must have engineered. Atop this bank, (and the path that you walk) would probably have been an old trackway that curves slightly round the valley. As in the following photo, the bank of the old river course can be seen curving to the right.

Looking back along the curve of the roman canal

You come to an old small wooden gate, here it is very boggy, the wildflowers (himalayan Balsam, meadowsweet, etc) grow tall and you have to cross a muddy patch, this must have been the spring marked on Wedlake's plan. Further on the path curves round over an old packhorse bridge and takes an uphill course, the brook is on your right hand side now, and there is a weir and small dam. Did not go much further than this, basically because I had no map (picked up the wrong one when I dumped the ironing and escaped the house!) but did notice that to the left there was another small gate. This would have led you to the fields atop the valley and site of the settlement behind the temple, I doubt if there is anything to be seen and it would have needed another couple of hours to conjecture what was what. Did find out another interesting fact back home, my husband, who used to teach archaeology, had in fact dug up here with Wedlake in the 1970s.

The following photo is looking east back to the modern lane/Fosse Way, and shows the high settlement ground where the first roman camp would have been, also small cemetery A, the track leading to the shrine would have come from here. It is also worth noting that the North Wraxall villa which is not too far afar, was subject to flooding over the period of its occupation, due to its low position, the Nettleton settlement fared better on high ground.

It also shows in the foreground, apart from the dog, a nettle topped bank probably the remains of an old roman building

And now to the gods.

The romans had a somewhat relaxed approach to the worship of gods, and were quite happy to twin their gods with local celtic gods. This of course happened at Bath - Minerva/Sulis. This is a simplified statement of a more complex issue, which revolves round the myths and beliefs round both celtic and roman gods. The attributes of different beliefs had to be melded into a shape or form that would have been recognisable by local native people and the different nationalities that made up the roman legions and governing class, that passed through on their way to Cirencester.The temple at Nettleton was dedicated to Apollo and he was twinned with Cunomaglus (the Hound Prince), this has been found on a dedicatory altar. Dogs were a part of the "special" animals and birds that are depicted in pagan religions. The dog in this case represents a healing power ( their saliva contains antiseptic) but they can also be found in a hunting role, and there is a sculpture of Diana and a hound at Nettleton,

they can also represent death as well. So at Nettleton they fulfil a threefold task. . Small votive dogs have also been found at the Lydney Temple overlooking the Severn Estuary.

A fragmentary part of statuary was found of Rosmerta and Mercury. Again there is a complex relationship to be read here. Rosmerta as a consort of Mercury probably represents a local celtic deity, but she could also be seen as the dominant goddess, because in irish celtic mythology the role of the female whether in healing or war was complex. She can also be found at Cirencester, in this instance with three hooded men (cucallati)? the myth of one wife/mother married to three brothers.(irish myth) Also the fertility of the female is represented in the fact that she can be found with a basket of food, echoing the three roman "matres" goddesses with their baskets/corncupias and playful dogs to be found at Bath and Cirencester. The iconography is representative of what people want, - food, healing and fertility, the fluidity of the gods reflect human expectations.

note; Rosmerta is also known as Maia, the May goddess or coming of spring maybe, Mercury can be found as a warrior, according to (Proinsias MacCana Celtic Mythology) Apollo can also be taken as a sun god as well as a healer and he states that Mercury and Lugh the Irish God are one - which would give some credence to the naming the Lugbury longbarrow, except perhaps that in Andrew and Dury Maps of 1773 the stones are called Lockstone. See also http://history-world.org/celts%20religious_beliefs_and_practices_.htm

There is a bronze face mask of Apollo, a rotund face with tight locks, it has the appearance of native work, and brings to mind the famous "celtic" head (sometimes called a Gorgon's head) on the shield of Minerva at Bath.

Note; on looking at the statuary, heads seem to have disappeared, it has been noted at Bath and at the Uley Shrine that the statues looked as if they had been decapitated, so whether it happened at Nettleton or not remains a mystery. The overthrow of roman temples around 367 AD may explain this.

Possible roman water wheel; On the east side of the Fosse Way, the Brookmead curves round from the modern bridge, having the same former roman "canalised" bank. During the storms of 1968 some large stones were exposed after the flood, and these were taken to be roman, though there is no direct evidence, except for some blue pennant roofing tile which was found in a channel, which was 1 ft 2 inches wide. After the storm a block of stone was found lying on its side where it had fallen from the ledge above. On its dressed face it had a small slot cut into it, and identical slot was found in a slot "in situ" built into the river bank, this proved to be a splayed intake.

There seems to be on higher ground an inspection platform for this waterwheel, the bottom stone step having been identified. The only datable evidence is the roofing tile to say that it was Roman, but there is no record in early maps of a medival water mill, and according to Wedlake, the use of such large blocks of stone in the wheel housing, and its position at the extreme end of the eastern side of the settlement shows that it was probably built on or about the same time as the octagonal podium, i.e.before 230 ad.

Notes from; The Shrine of Apollo at Nettleton W.J.Wedlake

The Silvanus Altar - upper part, 13x 16 inches with plain side. its dedication reads;

O....M.N; SILVA (NO) ET; NUMINI(A)VGN; (A)VR PV(.....

Relief of Diana? and Hound (Bristol Museum); 22 in. high 25in wide and 17 thick; Carving shows virtually complete figure of a hound, and part of the body and legs of a heavily draped female on the right; whilst to the left is a broad vertical frame or pilaster. Attractive rendering of the hound, powerfully built body and sinewy legs are seen from the fron and who seems to be thought of as seated on its haunches (see mongrel type dog at Pagans hill, Chew Stoke http://romanbristol.tripod.com/avon/pagan.html) at a slightly higher level than on which the female figure stands. The dog wear a heavy collar, and its snout is raided vertically, turned towards the spectator as it gazes into the now vanished face of its human companion.... a photo of the Diana and Hound relief sculpture at the Roman Bath Museum can be found here;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13791964@N00/211671988/

taken from Prof.J.M. Toynbee.

Relief of Mercury and Rosmerta; Fragmentary and somewhat crudely carved may be the figure of these two. Headless female, wearing a long tunic and a cloak, Her right arm is horizontal and she holds a basket or cake. Male figure is badly worn right arm broken away, in his left hand seems to grasp a caduceus, maybe his right hand held a purse.

Inscribed Apollo Altar; DEO APOL/LINI CUNO/MAGLO CO/ROTICA IV/TI FIL VSLM

(to the god Apollo Cunomaglos Corotica, son(or daughter) of Iutus gladly and duly fulfilled his (her) vow.

two Dubonnic Coins and the fact that the shrine is a boundary one between the Dubonni and the Belgae.

This is an earlier blog about Nettleton and Jefferies 'Nails of Gold' or kingcups, still to be found at Nettleton;

http://northstoke.blogspot.com/2007/06/nails-of-gold-or-kingcups.html

Wiltshire churches notes (old blog)

Alton Barnes Church St.Mary;

taken from Pevesner;

"an Anglo saxon church, shown by the long and short quoin stones at the W end and also, by the narrow tall proportions of the nave. Recent excavtion on the north side revealed Saxon pilasters along the nave wall. Foundations of an earlier chancel were also uncovered. Impost moulding also probably A/S. Saxon chancel arch was probably taken down in 1832"

Settlement site 1.1/4 miles north from the village, on boundary with Stanton St.Bernard. Probably Iron age, comprises a roughly small circular enclosure with the remains of hut platforms within, in a charter of 905 the site was referred to as eorth byrig.

Sarsen stone under Alton Priors church
Alton Priors Church; All Saints;

"Perp.w. tower, with nave and low brick chancel, the nave was originally narrower -this is proved by the position of the norman arch............everything later Jacobean, etc.

Earliest is late norman arcades, four bays, their foundation mighty Sarsen stones.......chancel late c13 to c14 century, the tower is ashlar faced and has pinnacled battlements. Perp. aisle walls, the foundations again Sarsen stones. Pagan saxon cemetery, 1 mile ssw. Excav.in1969, 60 burials, adults and children, many well dressed and probably of the earlier 6th c. The cemetery overlies an iron age settlement.

Adam's Grave; 1 mile nne....Chambered long barrow with prominent side ditches. Part of burial chamber is exposed at the se end. The barrow, which is of classic wedge shaped is supported by a retaining wall of upright sarsens and oolitic dry stone walling(the latter now buried beneath barrow material). Excavated C18, skeletons and arrowheads found. Wodnes Berg, Wodens barrow mentioned in a Saxon land charter of Ad 825 and which gives its name to two battles fought near by in Ad 592 and 715

Looking towards Adams grave

Pewsey church was standing in 1086, when it was held by Rainbold the priest: that it was then referred to as standing on the king's estate may suggest that it was built before 940. (fn. 45) In the 13th century and until the earlier 15th the church was served by both a rector and a vicar. (fn. 46) In 1440 the vicarage was consolidated with the rectory, (fn. 47) which in 1991 was united with the united benefice of Easton and Milton Lilbourne and the rectory of Wootton Rivers as Pewsey benefice. (fn. 48) The advowson of the rectory belonged to Hyde abbey, the lord of PewseyFrom: 'Pewsey', A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 16: Kinwardstone Hundred (1999

Pewsey Church

REINBALD the priest holds Avebury church with two hides according to the Domesday Book,

REINBALD the priest holds Pewsey church with 1 carucate of land. Other land held by the Abbey of Winchester, also Arnulf (presumably of Hesdin) holds two hides (he could not be separated from them) Edric holds 1.l/2

Archaeological evidence of Saxon* terrace cultivation on the side of Pewsey Hill along with burial mounds know as "barrows", show that this area was settled as long ago as the 6th century CE** with possible evidence of an underlying Iron Age settlement dating as far back as c. 300 BCE**†. Evidence of post Roman culture has been found all along the Avon and Kennet river valleys with additional discovery of a Roman mosaic pavement in Manningford Bruce.

Literature from the Saxon era refers to Pewsey as "Pevisigge"or "Pev’s Island" after a local land owner named Pev. It gained its charter in 940 CE and the Parish was granted equal portions of river meadow, woodland and downland grazing land. The original charter is now preserved at Winchester College, a Public (privately run) school in Winchester

Tockenham Church

This church is not of notable interest, but the reused roman stature embedded in the wall probably came from the roman villa nearby.

"Roman tesserae, tile fragments and pottery sherds were found at Tockenham and a possible villa was suggested. The site has been subject to investigation by the Time Team in 1994 and was confirmed as being a villa with associated structures, probably dating from the 2nd to 4th centuries. Finds from the excavations have included pottery, tesserae, window glass fragments and roofing tile. Scheduled. " taken from Pastscape Monument No.887838.

"The Rod of Asclepius symbolizes the healing arts by combining the serpent, which in shedding its skin is a symbol of rebirth and fertility with the staff, a symbol of authority, befitting the god of Medicine. The snake wrapped around the staff is widely claimed to be a species of rat snake,Elaphe longissima, also known as the Aesculapian (Asclepian) snake. It is native to southeastern Europe, Asia Minor and some central European spa regions, apparently brought there by Romans for their healing properties." taken from Wikipedia.

The snake wrapped round Aesculpius's rod is a single snake and not to be confused with Mercury's double snakes..There are also wooden posts embedded in the south wall of the church - Pevesner says, that inside, the bell-turrets stand on old posts, and that they are flanked by new timber-framed work.

Poetic metaphor - the gender bias

Silbury Hill

I think Gaia was a virgin
when the men came
took their dreams out
and buried them deep inside her
Then they wandered the fields bewildered
carved circles on rocks
and built stone chambers
trying to decipher
What is this great mound?
Surely it holds such plunder?
Oh you silly men
with your measuring strings
sandals tattered and torn
Everyone knows
this mound
is just a belly full of gods
waiting to be born

Persephone Vandegrift

---------------

Silbury hill

Bones of our wild forefathers,
O forgive,
If now we pierce the chambers of your rest,
And open your dark pillows to the eye
Of the irreverent Day!
Hark, as we move,
Runs no stern whisper through the narrow vault?
Flickers no shape across our torch-light pale,
With backward beckoning arm?
No, all is still.
O that it were not!
O that sound or sign,
Vision, or legend, or the eagle glance
Of science, could call back thy history lost,
Green Pyramid of the plains, from far-ebbed Time!
O that the winds which kiss thy flowery turf
Could utter how they first beheld thee rise;
When in his toil the jealous Savage paused,
Drew deep his chest, pushed back his yellow hair,
And scanned the growing hill with reverent gaze,
-Or haply, how they gave their fitful pipe**
To join the chant prolonged o'er warriors cold
. -Or how the Druid's mystic robe they swelled;
Or from thy blackened brow on wailing wing
The solemn sacrificial ashes bore,
To strew them where now smiles the yellow corn,
Or where the peasant treads the Churchward***path.

Emmeline Fisher

A couple of months back I read a book on the Wild by an author whose names escapes me, but at the time she made a point of how we use language to describe the 'conquest' of mountains. Now this idea probably started in the late 19th and early 20th century, and probably has its roots in Imperialism. But she made striking examples of how in the literature of that time, the words used to describe ascending the mountains, had more to do with the relationship between men and women. For instance, a mountain or a wild place such as the North and South Poles has to be conquered, subdued, tamed, brought into submission, yet for a women's interpretation of these words we might see rape or violation of these places, and of course quite a few men see exactly the same today.
A parallel can obviously be drawn with Silbury, the several tunnels have the same implication of violation, giving rise to the fact that Silbury is a female, though of course in defence the 'femaleness' of the mound is a modern definition, brought on by theorising of the 'mother earth' analogy.
The Persephone Vandegrit poem illustrates this perfectly, she has taken on board the notion that Silbury is a goddess, giving birth to gods, a subtle trick of female superiority is played here 'O you silly men' messing around with their bits of strings and spiral rock art. Gaia is a 'virgin' despoiled by men. It is the intuitive response of a woman one sees in this poem, similar in fact to the rape of the virgin farmed landscape around Tara that has a motorway being constructed through it. The rape here is defined by the historical and sacred nature of the landscape round Tara, how it lies in the heart of the Irish people, caught up in poetry and myths.
Now taking Emmeline Fisher's response, that of a young girl, we see something slightly different.
She falls back on the imagery of the 19th century, Bones of our Wild forefathers, please forgive, now we are viewing the pagan druid with all that fanciful stuff that has been written about, there is no hint of our female Silbury here, only that Of science, could call back their history lost, it is a plea to stop the wrecking of an old monument that has so much history written into it. Science as we know is incapable of calling back history, it can only summarise and deduce from the little known facts that are left behind.
To return to modern day poetry and its interpretation of the femaleness that imbues Silbury, perhaps in itself there is a false trail being left here. Fecundity of nature, giving of nature, the goddess Gaia is something that has built up in the mythology of religion and belief through the last 20th century, Ronald Hutton was at pains to deny the 'mother goddess' in nature, a storytelling trick used by 20th century feminists in the battle for equality...
In all this, when addressing one's own viewpoint, either from the imagination or the practical side of our nature, we are very subjective in our approach , the heart is too easily moved in poetry - there is poetry written from the soul or there is poetry written to a particular fashion., either way we have to judge impartially.

Notes

Reading David Field's Earthen longbarrows gives rise to some thoughts as to reasons how some things might have been viewed in neolithic age....
1) Turf; - symbolic removal of turf to cover longbarrows, could be that land that is stripped for cultivation, would have a special symbolic significance - not all land only virgin territory?
Regeneration or renewal, a setting aside of earth that is sacred, which perhaps goes back to the 'goddess' image of the earth. This can be seen at Silbury - the primary mound 'captures' in its turves, flowers and seeds to be carried into the future? (immediate covering of this small mound) or, back into the past, or a giving to the the earth. Whatever, turf is important, for it comes from many different places within the landscape.
2) Ditches can be seen as barriers to keep 'evil' spirits out but they also can be seen to keep spirits/ancestors confined to the longbarrow. Silbury has ditches with a narrow causeway to the south?, the water is a barrier, only a chosen few can walk across the causeway - similar to a stone circle.
3) Water; water represent s something - it is a mirror... it can be motionless, or in a river running towards a particular landscape. You can hear running water 'talk' but still water reflects the outer world, though in a sense drawing you into another liminal world when you look down into its depths.
Our modern world is defined by the 4 compass points N/S/E/W, yet neolithic understanding would only be aware of the circular nature of the world - the sun rising in one part and traversing its path through the sky to the other side, until it disappears.
So if the the causeway faces towards the zenith of the sun what does it signify, WKLB faces the rising east sun, and EKLB faces N/E?
So do the 'spirit/ancestors' escape from these two longbarrows, or trapped by the ditches, and the filling in of WKLB made sure there was no escape.
What are the spirits captured in Silbury then, if any, ancestors? strange beings that inhabit the landscape as seen in the strange shapes of the sarsen stones, so eloquently expressed on the Avebury stone circles.
Neolithic people ask the earth to regenerate its bounty - food, pottery, bones of animals, bones of people - rebirth? Another world to be travelled to as with the Beaker people who take their goods, - drinking mugs,weapons and jewellry with them.
Silbury has none of things - a large mound, empty of human bones?
Past, present,future; was Silbury a great undertaking to ask the earth/gods/ancestors to replenish diminishing resources - why then use up so much of the earth's resources?
What is the kernel of truth that lies buried at the heart of Silbury - not gold, not bones, not a goddess figure - but the earth itself. A miniature landscape, a mound surrounded by water from which at the top you could see all the different horizons of the downs, a place to see the'coming' of the winterbournes?
Captured spirits,seeds, land; Human bone is unimportant it is the essence, the soul...animus mundi occupying both people, animals and land, melding together they are an integral part of the fecund side of nature - no death, only all this living tissue of life coming and going through time, same animals, same humans, same plants....
Stone rivers in the landscapes; Piggledene, Fyfield Down, the field round Devil's Den, up to the 1940s was apparently covered in sarsen stones, the mound being undistinguishable...
Covering of Silbury - the layering "toblerone" effect as experienced by Atkinson.
Longbarrows round Silbury, do they represent territores, being built of the edge of land of different clans. So does Silbury pull those territories together, does she stand at a centre representing a tribal confederacy - a meeting place by the waters of the winterbournes..

Bath's Heritage at Stake

"The tendency to pass "desirable" planning applications regardless of planning policy and guidelines appears to be nationwide, so a press release has been sent to the national dailies bringing attention to the issues.!

Latest news from Bath Heritage Watchdog

http://www.bathheritagewatchdog.org/images/wakeupbritain.pdf

HERITAGE IS 'NO BARRIER TO AREA'S DEVELOPMENT'

A bid to use Bath's international heritage status to fight off plans for new development to the south of the city looks likely to fail.Bath and North East Somerset Council had argued that housing and business developments on the southern edge of Bath could threaten its status as a World Heritage Site.But an independent panel analysing comments on a massive blueprint for the future of the South West has rejected this argument - and has also angered council chiefs by suggesting that around 3,000 extra new homes could be built around Keynsham.It has told Communities Secretary Hazel Blears that development can be allowed to the south of Bath, and that the "critical area" intended to be protected by the rare WHC status was "the compact city set in the hollow in the hills".The panel concludes: "We consider that there is some scope for development that would not threaten the special character of the city. Bath is a living city and needs to be planned accordingly. We conclude that consideration should be given to the provision of employment land on the southern edge of Bath."The panel was commenting on the South West Regional Assembly's Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) document, which looks at the way the housing and employment needs of the region can be accommodated in the next 20 years.The panel says the RSS's estimate of the number of jobs that can be created in Bath is higher than the 8,500 suggested by B &NES Council.It adds: "We are not convinced that development on the southern edge of the city adjoining normal suburban development threatens the integrity of the historic, high density city within the hollow in the hills."It also says that just because land is in the official Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty zone around Bath, this should not mean it cannot be developed. The search is on for sites to the south of the city to accommodate 1,500 new homes.People in Keynsham have pledged to fight any suggestion of development that might weaken the green belt that separates Bristol and Bath.But the panel says 3,000 new homes can be accommodated in and around the town and says these can be built without blurring the distinction between the two cities.The panel also calls for better rail services between Bath and Wiltshire and says the need for action to protect Bath from the effects of through traffic must be kept under review.B &NES Council cabinet member in charge of planning Cllr Charles Gerrish (Con, Keynsham North) said he was "shocked and disappointed" at the recommendation for the town he represents.He said the council would "make the strongest possible representations" on the issue.If the panel's suggestion is taken up, the number of new homes to be built in B &NES over the next 20 years would rise from an original suggestion of 15,500 to 18,800.The panel also rejected a suggestion that the green belt should be extended in the Midsomer Norton and Radstock area.Last year, the draft RSS was examined by an independent panel appointed by Ms Blears, who invited more than 200 organisations and individuals to take part in public hearings held in Exeter.Following the publication of the RSS last week, the next stage will see the minister consider the report along with the representations which were previously submitted.Her proposed changes are expected in the spring, which will be followed by a 12-week period of consultation on any suggested amendments.The panel report can be downloaded from the website ....the rest of the article can be found at the following link...


http://tinyurl.com/2eojvp

The 'bowl of Bath City' seen from the West

Taken from Kelston Hill

Looking towards Bitton

Looking towards Keynsham and Bristol

Document as to redevelopment of 1500 houses. area of Urban extension to Bath. The Cotswold outstanding Natural Beauty

http://tinyurl.com/3a7gfw

Saxon Avebury

All is troublesome
in this earthly kingdom,
the turn of events changes
the world under the heavens.
Here money is fleeting,
here friend is fleeting,
here man is fleeting,
here kinsman is fleeting,
all the foundation of this world
turns to waste!

taken from the Anglo Saxon "Wanderer" full text here;
http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=text&id=Wdr
Here we come to the sparse written words of the saxons and their invasive presence on the scene of a probably very untranquil late British land of fortified hillforts.Burl gives the name Aureberie as first mentioned in the Domesday book, probably belonging to one of the first settlers by the earthwork "Afa's Burh" but this is of course late 1086. Early saxon settlement in the Glebe field car park west of the henge, probably a single homestead by the river, was found when a 9th century "grubenhaus" was excavated, this later developed into a rectangular enclosure, surrounding the church and regular house plots, extending westward from the west entrance of the henge towards the Winterbourne- probably late 9th/ 10th.Avebury.
Earlier settlement would have developed round the Herepath , military saxon road, and this can be traced to the west of the henge where regular plots of land are laid out perpendicular to the east/west of of this road, also in times of emergency, the henge itself would have provided good protection for stock and people. It is conjectured that Avebury was probably a "failed" town, Marlborough becoming dominant.
The church of St.James, that lies at the heart of Avebury has displaced anglo saxon sculpture,(as do so many churches in this area have); the north-west corner of the present nave is composed of side alternate megalithic quoins with a fragment of A/S sculpture of late 9th/10th century, originally part of a cross shaftor coffin lid, indicating that there was an earlier masonry church here, contemporary with the burh. The A/S chancel was discovered during restoration in 1878, it was shorter than the present one.Burl says that although the font in this church is elegantly sculptured in a much later style (Scandinavian) it would have been an early undecorated a/s font.

Likewise the english king and the prince,
Brothers triumphant in war, together
Returned to their home, the land of Wessex.
To enjoy the carnage, they left behind
The horn beaked raven with dusky plumage,
And the hungry hawk of battle, the dun coated
Eagle, who with white-tipped tail shared
The feast with the wolf, grey beast of the forest.
Never before in this island, as the books
of ancient historians tell us,
was an army put to greater slaughter by the sword..

taken from the Anglo Saxon Chronicles
---------------------------------
Three ancient roads ran through the parish, the Ridge Way, the Roman road, and Harepath Way, the path of which has been traced for 1 km. along the edge of West Down. In the 18th century the London-Bath road ran through West Kennett to Beckhampton, crossing the Kennet south-east of Silbury Hill. At Beckhampton the road forked. One branch continued northwestwards to Cherhill, the other led southwestwards, reaching Bath via Sandy Lane in Calne. Both were turnpiked in 1742. (fn. 43) The more northerly branch became the modern LondonBath road, the principal route through the parish. West of Beckhampton its path was moved slightly to the south in 1790 (fn. 44) but it had returned to its original course by 1889. (fn. 45) In the early 18th century a coach road led over the downs from Marlborough towards Avebury village. It entered the Circle from the east and apparently turned south-west across the Kennet to Beckhampton. (fn. 46) The downland route fell out of use after the London-Bath road was turnpiked (fn. 47) and was marked only by a track in 1979. In 1675 a road to Devizes left the London-Bath road near Silbury Hill. (fn. 48) In the 18th century the main route to Devizes within the parish was part of the Bath road via Sandy Lane. The road from Beckhampton to Avebury was turnpiked in 1742 and that north of Avebury in 1767 to form the SwindonDevizes road. (fn. 49) Another turnpike road linked Avebury and West Kennett. The lane leading from the London-Bath road to East Kennett was turnpiked in 1840 as part of the West Kennett to Amesbury road, one of the last roads in England to be turnpiked. (fn. 50) The bridge over the Kennet between Avebury and Beckhampton was replaced in 1950 (fn. 51) and a roundabout built at Beckhampton c. 1960. (fn. 52) Few changes occurred in the pattern of secondary roads between the late 18th century and the 20th. A path which skirted Avebury village to the north and west in the 18th century had, however, disappeared by 1979. The main street of Avebury village was linked by a footbridge with the network of lanes west of the river which connected the farms and houses of Avebury Trusloe. From a point on the old road to Marlborough some 700 m. east of the Circle, tracks radiated to Winterbourne Monkton, Chiseldon, and West Overton. In the 19th century new or improved tracks were made to South Farm on Avebury Down, Windmill Hill, and Beckhampton Penning south of Beckhampton. An older path led from Beckhampton village to Tan Hill in All Cannings. Further east a path ran from the London-Bath road at West Kennett to East Kennett across a bridge perhaps built in the late 18th century. (fn. 53) Avebury village was one of the larger settlements in Selkley. Its assessment
From: 'Parishes: Avebury', A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 12: Ramsbury and Selkley hundreds; the borough of Marlborough (1983), pp. 86-105.

URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66519. Date accessed: 13 January 2008.

The Abdication of Belief

Those - dying then,

Knew where they went

They went to God's right hand

That hand is amputated now

And God cannot be found -

---------

The abdication of belief

Makes the Behaviour small

Better an Ignus Fatuus

Then no illume at all

___________________________________

This poem I heard last week on the radio programme"Something Understood". It is something Emily Dickinson wrote when she had a crisis of belief, therefore "The Abdication of Belief" is a familar term to describe this moment when religious people go to that dark place of the soul and question their belief. An Ignus Fatuus is similar to a small flare of light, or 'will of the wisp' that lights up for a brief second.

The youtube video below plays music by Youssou N'Dour, accompanied by Pete Gabriel, who lives down the road in Box and is famous in megalithic terms for his song - Solsbury Hill
A song was played on the programme called Red Clay, and my son downloaded the album for me this week. So much of what comes out of Africa news is miserable, and yet the music is marvellous. Africa is a land full of different countries and tribes, to always view it in terms of poverty, aids and disaster is only to present one side. It also has vitality, sun, many cultures and languages that are different to our own culture.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9ldouV5_atY&feature=related

Dedicated to the King of Bling and the Talent scout! - Ephraim and Mark, and if that one doesnt work.....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rAFU0ssYxRk

Sara and friends

Meeting with deer

This not very good photograph taken early on Sunday morning captures a beautiful tension between me taking the picture, the dog commanded not too chase and the deer by the wood holding its ground. All captured in the warm light of the rising sun.
We are all three animals but our neural cells work differently, my brain is considered higher than the other two, but both the dog and the deer are also finely honed to survive in their own environment. One is wild, the other tame and therefore under authority, (the dog happy to be part of human life,) the wild deer on the other hand has no such shackles and yet is aware of both the human and dog is standing his ground - a balance of mutual understanding is achieved.The deer won the day and moved off into the woods but this earlier photograph shows Moss chasing a second deer, albeit slowly because he did'nt want to catch up with it.

A different relationship exists between the ferns and the trees. The breakdown of the bark of the tree has allowed the ferns to grow in this damp cool environment, a fragile ecosystem that may have been threatened by the removal of old thorn bushes in front of the tree.

The Skinner Diaries

The Reverend Skinner left three large iron bound chests to the British Museum of diaries many of which are valuable records of the drawings and excavations he made during his life. It is calculated that they run to 25000 pages, half of which relate to his native Somerset.
There is an ongoing project to publish some of his drawings in CD format - Cornwall, Devon, Hadrian Wall or the Wansdyke which will be listed by the British Library. This will enable researchers to access sets of specific localities. It is a long process and his pen and ink drawings are often very naive but also of course very informative.

ref; CBA for South West England.

One further note;
The Reverend William Lisle Bowles of Bremhill, apart from writing poetry, wrote The Parochial History of Bremhill, and also either published a separate pamphlet on the Stupendous Monuments of Antiquity in the Neighbourhood of Avebury, Silbury and Wansdike, or that these illustrations appeared in his Parochial History. One book appears to be in the local library Service.

Christmas Reading

For the last few days I have suffered with one of those interminable sick headaches that have plagued me through life, Christmas day I managed but in the evening I read Richard Jefferies -After London, Wild England, from cover to cover.
My feelings towards the book are mixed, I know his writing from Secret of My Heart and Life in the fields, the former book being an emotionally intense desire to reach the very essence of his soul, the latter a joyous hymn to the intricate wonders of nature.

But what of Wild England, following his mind for me is easy, so here he is constructing a fabled barbaric England from his own beloved landscape, the hero, or perhaps anti-hero, Felix is probably himself. The setting is an Iron age depiction of small territories dominated by overlords, this is not Wm Morris's utopian vision of News From Nowhere, in Jefferies book wild men haunt the forests and woods, slaves serve the illiterate noblemen, there are several castes of people. The shepherds in the hills, the gypsies, the barbaric men in the woods, and lastly small despotic kingdoms carefully guarding the remains of old iron tools, pieces of glass, fragments of manuscripts.
This is the fall of civilisation as seen from a nineteenth century viewpoint, It is a fall of the new industrial Victorian rise to power and domination. He centres this fall on London, for it is here that the worst has happened. Nature has taken over England, impenetrable forests, a great lake sits at its heart, stretching down from the City (which was once Oxford) though now it has a different name, right through the heart of the West country down to London. The lake is a beautiful place with forests down to its sweet waters but when it approaches the great city of London terrible things have happened.
A great sulphorous yellow mist hangs for miles across this last stretch of the Lake, to enter it is to court death. No animal or bird life lives, the waters are black and oily, vegetation rank and dying, great bubbles of noxious gas escape the waters every now and then. London has descended into an evil marsh land, sinking into the depths of its own sewers and basements. Felix enters this terrible landscape at one point and Jefferies eloquently describes how Felix walks across a ground black with a sooty deposit, the remains of long dead people. He touches buildings that crumble to dust, and a great sense of lassitude that is brought on by the foul air, makes him stumble and walk with his back bent.
But perhaps I should go back to the beginning of the story, I have described Felix as an anti-hero, he is the eldest son of a nobleman in Aquila, but he is no brave knight, he would rather read the few precious manuscripts that still exist, or draw his ideas for new fangled inventions. He is often bad tempered and because he is poor, miserable with his lot in life. He loves Aurora who lives in the kingdom of Thyma but he is not seen as a suitable suitor. At the beginning of the book he manages to construct a boat, for he wants to sail round the Lake, which is of course unmapped and discover its length and breadth.
The whole environment of the landscape is painted as hostile, wild dogs, there are three different types that have evolved that now haunt the woods, are liable to attack. Wild pigs and boars are also prolific in the woods and forests, and then there are the human dangers, the Bush men, who, happen to use poison on the tips of their weapons, his material for his fiction writing can be found in the books that he has read.
The Lake must centre on his beloved Coate, and its waters, and sailing on a boat there in his childhood. Here in the book he has changed Coate Waters to an uncharted large inland lake, fed by rivers, dotted with small islands and ringed with cliffs and beaches, in which he, our intrepid hero would sail around and explore. He has adventures on the way, meets with humiliations, but in the end he triumphs.
His braveness in sailing into the terrible territory of London earns him respect and leadership amongst the shepherds that live in the hills. He becomes their overlord, and can muster 8000 men to his service, but he refuses to be their leader, only asking of the tribal elders that he should be their leader in war should it happen. In the final chapter we see him heading back to Thyma to Aurora, for he has found a territory to settle in and build a tower, and the last words are of him setting out through the forest to bring her back.
My mixed feeling for the book comes from that which is brilliant in his description of the landscape and the different world he has conjured up, to perhaps some of the things that he draws upon which are rather imitations of other books. But overall the story is captivating and warrants a full reading from beginning to end to uncover a mind that rebelled against the society he lived within. A mind that constructed another world, not necessarily better, but a different world in which our hero could change some of the injustices and cruelty that abided there.

A poem by Jeremy Hooker - Landscape of the Daylight Moon

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=6418

Jeremy Hooker is a great admirer of Richard Jefferies and has compiled some of his essays into a book which can be found at Green Books.