The History of Butser Ancient Farm & the Celtic Beltain Festival - Part 1
Nestled in the hills of the South Down National Park, Butser Ancient Farm is a historical research site that has given archaeologist the unique opportunity to study life in ancient Britain.
The farm displays ongoing constructions of ancient buildings based on real sites, dating from the Stone Age through the Iron Age and Roman Britain, and finishing with the Anglo-Saxons.
There is a full programme of special events including fantastic Celtic festivals and workshops, such as metallurgy, Iron Age cooking, bushcraft skills or felting. It’s a truly memorable family day out on the Hampshire/West Sussex border.
In this Out & About Podcast (part 1 or 4) we spoke to the director Maureen Page and discovered how long the site has been running and what is the Celtic Beltain Festival, which has been practised in Britain for 1,000's of years.
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The Beltane Festival at Butser Ancient Farm near Chalton, UK
Every year, Butser Ancient Farm near Chalton in Hampshire hosts a fine Beltane (Beltain) festival, of which the highlight is the ceremonial burning of a Wicker Man. This year, the 9m tall Wicker Man carried a fine parasol to symbolise the wonderful (wet, cold) weather that Britons had endured at the start of 2013, and true to form, there were scattered showers earlier throughout the day. No matter though: around 1500 people from all walks of life were drawn to this most significant fire festival to see the Wicker Man off in fine style.
The event was reminiscent of a minor pop festival, and we were entertained by a variety of live bands and a dance troupe named the Spirits of Ishtar. There was also a play by the Church Crookham Mummers, and a fine selection of birds of prey with their handlers. Add to that a selection of country crafts, herbalists, food, and the freedom to wander around the Iron-Age round houses, and you couldn't want for more.
The lighting of the fire was a serious affair, and 2 lucky youngsters won the raffle and had the privilege of lighting the fire. I'm hoping that the Gods and Goddesses looked kindly upon our offering as we really need a good harvest this year.
So, please enjoy the video which is a mix of stills and video. Also, please visit the Butser Ancient Farm web site at
Disclaimer: No animals were used in this Wicker Man. Sgt Howie is still missing.
Music soundtrack by the Black Twig Pickers and Steve Gunn, sourced from the Free Music Archive and licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.
Butser Ancient Farm.
Butser farm is in Hampshire near Horndean and is clearly marked off the A3M.
Introduction to Butser Ancient Farm by Dr Peter Reynolds
A very early video of Dr Peter Reynolds in the Longbridge Deverell roundhouse at Butser Ancient Farm. Dr Reynolds founded the Butser Ancient Farm project in 1972 to investigate life in Iron Age Britain through experimental archaeology.
Butser Ancient Farm is a unique experimental archaeological site and a fascinating day out, nestled into the rolling South Downs National Park. The farm displays ongoing constructions of ancient buildings based on real sites, dating from the Stone Age through the Iron Age and Roman Britain, and finishing with the Anglo-Saxons. We also grow crops from prehistory and keep rare breeds of animals, including pigs, goats and sheep.
We have a full programme of special events including fantastic Celtic festivals and workshops, such as metallurgy, Iron Age cooking, bushcraft skills or felting. It’s a truly memorable family day out on the Hampshire/West Sussex border.
Visit the website at: butserancientfarm.co.uk
Like our Facebook page at: facebook.com/butserancientfarmhampshire
Follow us on Twitter at: twitter.com/butserfarm
Beltane Butser Ancient Farm Festival 2019
The Festival Of Archeology Has Begun At Butser Ancient Farm
Archaeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of artifacts.
But it’s not all about holes in the ground or navigating booby traps like Indiana Jones.
The study can also be done through trying to recreate the tools and techniques used by ancient people to do all manner of tasks from finding food and building shelter, to making weapons and clothing.
And during a festival of Archaeology at the Butser ancient farm, you too can get hands on and eat like a saxon or fight like a Roman.
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Antler Dance, Spirits of Ishtar, Beltain at Butser 2010
Welcome to Butser Ancient Farm! (Short version)
Butser Ancient Farm is a unique experimental archaeological site and a fascinating day out, nestled into the rolling South Downs National Park. The farm displays ongoing constructions of ancient buildings based on real sites, dating from the Stone Age through the Iron Age and Roman Britain, and finishing with the Anglo-Saxons.
We also grow crops from prehistory and keep rare breeds of animals, including pigs, goats and sheep. We have a full programme of special events including fantastic Celtic festivals and workshops, such as metallurgy, Iron Age cooking, bushcraft skills or felting. It’s a truly memorable family day out on the Hampshire/West Sussex border.
Visit the website at: butserancientfarm.co.uk
Like our Facebook page at: facebook.com/butserancientfarmhampshire
Follow us on Twitter at: twitter.com/butserfarm
The Wicker Man festival, Butser Ancient Farm
- created at
Wicker Man Butser Hill Ancient Farm 2016
The Wicker man burns and winter is gone. Butser Ancient Farm 30th April 2016.
Wicker Man Burning Beltane At Butser Ancient Farm
The burning of the Wicker man at Butser Ancient Farm at Beltane 2008. Usually the Wicker man burns to the ground but this Beltane it kind of went out, are we all doomed? lol Anyway, not the best video and kinda dark but better than nowt. Blessed Be. Lost Eden
Butser Ancient Farm
butser ancient farm
butser ancient farm festival
butser ancient farm roundhouse
butser ancient farm project
butser ancient farm wicker man
butser ancient farm roman villa
Learning to be a Blacksmith
The Butser staff recently enjoyed a fantastic work outing to the Ancient Technology Centre in Dorset. There we learned how to be blacksmiths in their Roman forge, as well as visiting their Viking house, earth-covered roundhouse and other ancient buildings.
Butser Ancient Farm is a unique experimental archaeological site and a fascinating day out, nestled into the rolling South Downs National Park. The farm displays ongoing constructions of ancient buildings based on real sites, dating from the Stone Age through the Iron Age and Roman Britain, and finishing with the Anglo-Saxons.
We also grow crops from prehistory and keep rare breeds of animals, including pigs, goats and sheep. We have a full programme of special events including fantastic Celtic festivals and workshops, such as metallurgy, Iron Age cooking, bushcraft skills or felting. It’s a truly memorable family day out on the Hampshire/West Sussex border.
Visit the website at: butserancientfarm.co.uk
Like our Facebook page at: facebook.com/butserancientfarmhampshire
Follow us on Twitter at: twitter.com/butserfarm
Catching Up With An Ancient Metalwork Craft
Butser Ancient Farm in Chalton sees thousands of schoolchildren each year learning a little about history. This week they also get a chance to see a blacksmith at work so our reporter Shan Robins went along to find out more about this ancient craft
May Day at Butser Ancient Farm Museum
A short film of the burning of the wicker man at this years May bank holiday event at Butser Ancient Farm.
Celebrating National Parks with Liz Truss
In 2016, Butser Ancient Farm received a visit from then Environment Secretary Liz Truss as part of a new campaign celebrating our national parks. The farm is situated within the rolling hills of the South Downs National Park, and visiting us provides an opportunity for children and families to get outside and enjoy everything the countryside has to offer. This clip was featured on BBC Breakfast.
Butser Ancient Farm is a unique experimental archaeological site and a fascinating day out, nestled into the rolling South Downs National Park. The farm displays ongoing constructions of ancient buildings based on real sites, dating from the Stone Age through the Iron Age and Roman Britain, and finishing with the Anglo-Saxons.
We also grow crops from prehistory and keep rare breeds of animals, including pigs, goats and sheep. We have a full programme of special events including fantastic Celtic festivals and workshops, such as metallurgy, Iron Age cooking, bushcraft skills or felting. It’s a truly memorable family day out on the Hampshire/West Sussex border.
Visit the website at: butserancientfarm.co.uk
Like our Facebook page at: facebook.com/butserancientfarmhampshire
Follow us on Twitter at: twitter.com/butserfarm
Satan climb butser hill
Satan's climb segment over butser hill
Butser Farm Wickerman 2012
Pictures of the Beltaine Wickerman festival at Butser Ancient Farm 2012! A truly amazing and beautiful experience, I'd reccommend it to anyone.
Earliest Direct Evidence of Milk Consumption
Title: Earliest direct evidence of milk consumption || Godhuli News BD
Scientists have discovered the earliest direct evidence of milk consumption by humans.
The team identified milk protein entombed in dental plaque on the teeth of prehistoric farmers from Britain.
It shows that humans were consuming dairy products as early as 6,000 years ago - despite being lactose intolerant.
This could suggest they processed the raw milk into cheese, yoghurt or some other fermented product.
This would have reduced its lactose content, making it more palatable.
The team members scraped samples of plaque off the teeth, separated the different components within it and analysed them using mass spectrometry.
They detected a milk protein called beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) in the tartar of seven individuals spanning early to middle Neolithic times.
Proteomic analysis of calculus is a fairly recent technique. There have been a few studies before, but they have generally been on historical archaeological material rather than prehistoric material, co-author Dr Sophy Charlton, from the department of archaeology at the University of York, told BBC News.
Lactose intolerance arises from the inability to digest the lactose sugar contained in milk beyond infancy. This means that consuming milk-based foods can cause uncomfortable symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhoea and nausea. However, many modern Europeans possess a genetic mutation which allows for the continued consumption of milk into adulthood.
This mutation affects a section of DNA controlling the activity of the gene for lactase - an enzyme that breaks down lactose sugar. However, previous studies of the genetics of Neolithic Europeans show that they lacked this mutation.
Dr Charlton said it was possible these Stone Age people were limiting themselves to small amounts of milk. If you are lactose intolerant and you consume very, very small amounts of milk, then it doesn't make you too ill. You can just about cope with that, she explained.
But Dr Charlton added: The alternative option, which I think is perhaps slightly more plausible, is that they were processing the milk in such a way that it's removing a degree of the lactose. So if you process it into a cheese, or a fermented milk product, or a yoghurt, then it does decrease the lactose content so you could more easily digest it.
That idea fits quite well with other archaeological evidence for the period in which we find dairy fats inside lots of Neolithic pottery, both in the UK and the rest of Europe.
In addition, some of the milk residues found in these pots appear to have been heated, which would be required for processing raw milk into cheese or some other product.
The human remains tested in the study come from three Neolithic sites: Hambledon Hill in Dorset, Hazleton North in Gloucestershire, and Banbury Lane in Northamptonshire.
More than one quarter of the pottery fragments at Hambledon Hill had milk lipids on them, suggesting that dairy foods were very important to the people living at that site. Other Neolithic sites show evidence of animal herds that are consistent with those used for dairying.
Genetic studies of ancient populations from across Eurasia show that lactase persistence only became common very recently, despite the consumption of milk products in the Neolithic. The mutation had started to appear by the Bronze Age, but even at this time, it was only present in 5-10% of Europeans.
The Neolithic age in Britain lasted from about 6,000 to 4,400 years ago and saw the introduction of farming, including the use of domesticated animals such as cows, sheep, pigs and goats.
The study has been published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.
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The Maypole. Beltane 2013
The second of two videos showing the Beltane celebrations held at Chalice Hill ( The part known as Bushy Coombe), Glastonbury, England, on May 1st, 2013.
Here we see the erection of the Maypole, and the Maypole dance.
Music provided by Nathan Lewis Williams, and his Fiancee, Harmony. (More detail to come)
This video was shot with a more modern camera than that used on part one: the procession.(HDD Camcorder)
** I may have to do more work on this vid., mainly to stabilise the wobbly bits, but it's shot entirely with a hand held camera.