Liddington Castle Iron Age Hill Fort, Swindon, Wiltshire, UK
Liddington Castle is the highest point in the county of Wiltshire. It is south of Swindon, and is clearly visible on Google Maps Satellite view, east of the village of Chiseldon. It was probably abandoned when the Saxons invaded.
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The following notes are from YouTuber Mikesey1, who posted them on another Liddington video:-
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Liddington stood in a dark-age war-zone. At this time, the important British cities were at Cirencestor, Swindon & Bath, whilst the Saxons were in the Thames valley, below Oxford.
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Liddington stands on important trackways and roads; The Ermine way, going SE., and another Roman road going directly south, also the Iron-age 'Ridgeway' runs right under the lip of the fort. This fort stood on an important place which was vital to stemming the Saxon advance.
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Somewhere nearby, but probably not in the Fort itself, will be a mass burial pit, from the battle of Mount Badon.
The soil there is chalky, not acidic, so the remains will still be in situ when the site is discovered. The locations of the Saxons and the Britons during AD 499 indicate that the battle may have taken place at Liddington.
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Liddington would have been essential to halt the Saxon advance into Western England, what was to later become the Saxon kingdom of Wessex.
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This place is a sort of dark-age spaghetti junction, and true to form, modern road planners built the M4 right alongside the castle.
LIDDINGTON CASTLE WANBOROUGH WILTSHIRE
Liddington Castle is Late Bronze Age / Early Iron Age Hill Fort with an enclosure ditch showing .Thought to be the location of Baydon Hill the Mythical site of King Arthurs Great Victory over the Saxon Invaders. xxxsha
Liddington Castle 03/05/10
Moon overlooking crop cirlce !!
Aldbourne Circular Walk via Liddington Castle 22 August 2009
A 11.5 circular walk from the large village of Aldbourne in Wiltshire via the Ridgeway long distance footpath, the iron age hillfort of Liddington Castle and the bronze age burial mounds of Four Barrows. The walk took place in mainly cloudy weather on Saturday 22 August 2009.
Paragliding Liddington Castle
Some ridge flying
Liddington beloved of Richard Jeffries and Alfred Williams | DJI Phantom 4
Liddington Hill fort located near Swindon WIltshire UK.
This hill fort lies off of the Ridgeway is is therefore not frequently visited but well worth a visit.
The music is called Lost of love The artist is unknown. I got the idea to use this sound track from Damian's channel, The Fell wanderer when I heard it on his video:
Liddington Castle, The Ridgeway, Swindon - Mavic Air
Music: bensound.com/
From Wikipedia:
Liddington Castle, locally called Liddington Camp, is a late Bronze Age and early Iron Age hill fort in the English county of Wiltshire.
It is sited on a commanding high points close to The Ridgeway and covers an area of 3ha. Liddington Castle was one of the earliest hill forts in Britain, with first occupation dating to the seventh century BC.
Liddington Castle is sometimes suggested as a possible site of Mount Badon and thus the location of the late fifth century AD Battle of Mount Badon from Gildas.
Unlike the neighbouring castles of Uffington and Barbury, Liddington Castle is relatively unvisited in spite of being a clearly visible landmark to the millions who pass along the M4 motorway south of Swindon. While accessible by a permissive footpath and less than a mile from The Ridgeway it is not served by a car park, hence any visitor will usually find themselves quite alone to enjoy its secluded atmosphere.
Liddington Castle, at 277 metres (909 ft), is the highest point in the Borough of Swindon.
Liddington Castle
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Liddington Castle, locally called Liddington Camp, is a late Bronze Age and early Iron Age hill fort in the English county of Wiltshire.It is sited on a commanding high points close to The Ridgeway and covers an area of 3ha.Liddington Castle was one of the earliest hill forts in Britain, with first occupation dating to the seventh century BC.The earthworks consist of a relatively simple oval bank of timber and earth fronted by a ditch, with opposing causewayed entrances on the east and west sides.
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The Ridgeway - Liddington Castle to Barbury Castle
Sunny conditions on the Ridgeway long distance footpath in England.
The Ridgeway heading West, 1.5 km Southeast of Liddington Castle
Heading Southwest to Ogbourne St George. Stopped the video at the woods where we camped a long time ago.
Liddington, UK - Aerial Drone Footage
Aerial footage of the beautiful English countryside. We were driving down from London to Bath and noticed the stunning landscape, so we stopped in the town of Liddington to fly the drone and capture some aerial views.
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Liddington castle crop circle 03/05/10
Long drag along the hollow liddington
New UK crop circle - Wanborough Plain, Liddington, Wiltshire - 1 July 2012
Description link:
Latest 2012 crop circles from United Kingdom - Wanborough Plain, nr Liddington, Wiltshire. Reported 1st July.
DJI Phantom 3 Standard at Liddington Castle
Across the poppy field to get a view of this hill fort. Liddington Castle known locally as Liddington Camp, is a late Bronze Age and early Iron Age hill fort in the English county of Wiltshire. Finds of pottery suggest Liddington Castle was abandoned during the fifth century BC, with perhaps some later re-occupation during the Roman period. Hit like if you enjoy and please subscribe for more!
Endhiran Swindon UK Premiere Show
Endhiran Premiere show was released in Swindon, a small town in the South West of England, UK. It was a pleasant surprise for visitors from India! The movie was fantastic...absolutely lived up to it's hype and expectations! Swindon Cineworld was overwhelmed with the response for the priemere show advance booking which resulted in screening the movie in 2 screens and will go on till Tuesday next! This is a record for a town like Swindon...Thalaivar rocks!
liddington hill swindon ski and boarding uk weather
Sunday 08 february 2009. Liddington Hill . Snow so good you could ski and board on it. A once in a lifetime experience had by all. Enjoy...
Barbury Castle Ariel View, 07/05/18.
Barbury Castle is a scheduled Iron Age hill fort situated in Wiltshire, England. It is one of several such forts found along the ancient Ridgeway route. The site, which lies within the Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,
It has two deep defensive ditches and ramparts. The Old Ridgeway runs close by and the modern Ridgeway crosses through the castle. In the surrounding area are to be found round barrows, Celtic field systems and 18th-19th Century flint workings.
The site was first occupied some 2500 years ago, and was then in use during the Roman occupation of the area. Archaeological investigations at Barbury have shown evidence of a number of buildings, indicating a village or military garrison at this time.
In the 6th century the site became part of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex, following the defeat of the Romano-British at the Battle of Beranburgh, Beran Byrig or Beranbyrig in AD 556, the site of which is just north of the castle.
Centuries later the area was a favourite haunt of the 19th century writer Richard Jefferies, who lived an hour’s walk away at Coate.
In World War II the War Ministry appropriated the site for US Army Air Force anti-aircraft guns; the bases for these are apparently visible as hollows around the edge of the fort interior.
In 1996 a geophysical survey revealed traces of 40 hut circles inside the castle
Dji Phantom 4 at Liddington Castle Hill Fort
Doing an orbit of Liddington Castle, a Hill Fort in Wiltshire England with DJI Phantom 4 on the evening of 8 July 2017. Same video with corrected audio.
The Real Camelot.
Camelot is on the map as Cadbury Castle, situated at the village of South Cadbury, 11 miles from Glastonbury, the Isle of Avalon, the celticYnys Witrin
First written use of Glastonbury being Avalon C. AD 946.
This probably is the ancient Camelot, but it is not the type of castle which comes to mind when talking of them; it is a fortified town rather than a castle or fort.
Between the fort and the nearby river Cam, was found a hastily dug mass grave of men and boys, evidently fallen in battle. It maybe the grave of the fallen of the battle of Camlann, Arthur's last battle which was probably fought to defend this castle from the Saxon invaders.
Camlann maybe the original British/Celtic name for this place, and Arthur may have known it as such.
Also near here are two Saxon villages: Queen Camel and West Camel: of course both post-date the history of this place.
The documented battle, Mount Badon, or Mons Badonicus in which Arthur defeated the Saxons is in the next county, Wiltshire, at Liddington, another 'fort'.
It has the Saxon name Badanburh, Celtic/British name Badan, and It stands on a sort of dark-age front-line between the Saxons and the Britons.
The battle was probably fought C. AD 499.
The earliest reference of Cadbury being Camelot, has now been pushed back to an earlier time than that of John Leland, writing in 1542, who was thought to be the first to call this place Camelot, writing of it as such from his study of folklore, etc., but we now know it was named much earlier: Nennius (AD 800) mentions a Camalet in Somersetshire. It is thought that he was quoting much earlier writings, now lost..
During the years 1966-1970 an archaeological excavation was carried out here. As well as finding that this place was used from the Neolithic period, 5,000 years ago, It also found that it was occupied during the bronze & Iron-ages, when the first fortifications were laid. These were earth banks fortified with huge boulders, dressed to shape.
The Iron age occupants were of the Durotriges tribe.
In AD 61, Roman soldiers, travelling from the nearby settlement of Ilchester, attacked the fort and massacred most of its residents, probably as punishment for sending men to support Queen Boudicca's uprising against the Romans, in the East.
Human remains showing signs of the violence of that attack were discovered in this fort's SW gate.
Evidence of Roman occupation of the site after the massacre have also been found.
The Roman army left Britain around AD 410..
Archaeology has established features UNIQUE to the Arthurian period, and to this site, even though other Forts of this type were reused during the time. This is also the largest re-fortified site: 44 acres.
Arthur may have been the Riothamus of history, who led military campaigns throughout Britain and Gaul, modern France, at the right time.
Riothamus is not a name but a title and approximates Supreme leader in modern English.
However, it is strange that a person with so many victories against the Visigoths in France has no name, and that no French writer has used any place in France in their works, indeed Chretien de Troyes, (c. AD 1170) set his Camelot is what is now Wales!
It is conceivable that one or more of the 12 battles of Arthur, may have been in France.
The mound in the SW corner of the Fort, named Arthur's Castle is shown; on it archaeologists found evidence of a large feasting hall of Arthur's time.
Camelot also had huge earth embankments, ditches and dykes, a large palisade fence and watchtowers on the top rampart..
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In this video, views from the fort, towards Beacon hill, and views of the castle from the Beacon itself, at Sunset, are shown. Images from two visits are seen.
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The last two photos here are of the site of Arthur's tomb, in Glastonbury abbey. His remains, with his queen, were found in AD 1191, and resited in front of the High altar in AD 1278.
Glastonbury is the renowned Isle of Avalon, topographically and historically it is actually well deserving of the name. It's only 11 miles from this castle, and a pathway called Arthur's Causeway leads to and from the Isle. Other contenders for the title of Avalon do not fit the bill.
GHOSTLY
People living near hear report hearing ghostly sounds of battle on some nights, and Arthur & his knights, legend says, can be heard riding back from Avalon on Midsummer's eve, and the night of the full-Moon.
When the Romans invaded, the whole of Britannia was ruled by many Celtic tribal kings.
Only after the Saxon invasion was there a Wales.
This site was inhabited by the same people who were driven into Wales: the celts.
During the dig of 1966-70, potsherds dating from AD 460/70 and 510/20 were found; this means that the site is not too late to be Arthurian. Further, the director of the dig, Leslie Alcock, is not embarrassed to be associated with the search for Arthur as has been quoted.