The Iron Age Road
As you explore the history of the North Wessex Way, you work your way back from the Ogilby Map of 1675, to the Gough Map of the 1300s. It was clearly and important route from Oxford to Bristol in the Middle Ages. Going back further, it marked the northern border of the Kingdom of Wessex, with Anglo Saxon settlements found along its length,
The Roman road expert at Oxford University was very clear - it is not a Roman Road like the Fosse Way and Ermin Street. But if it's not a road built by the Romans then it was certainly a road used by the Romans; and if the Romans used it but didn't build it, then it must have been in existence prior to the Roman invasion of AD47.
The evidence for it being an Iron Age route comes from looking at the Iron Age settlement and hillforts that are near or next to the North Wessex Way. As it runs along the ridge on the south side of the Thames valley, you find the hill forts at Badbury Clump and Blunsdon, and Ringsbury Camp at Purton. Each of these are near to the road and have amazing views across the Thames valley.
Malmesbury was a hill fort in the Iron Age and as you travel west, you reach Hinton hill fort, where the road passes right through the middle of the embankments.
The Iron Age in Britain lasted from about 800BC until the Roman invasion of AD47. These hill forts and settlements wouldn't have existed in isolation, and people would have had over eight hundred years to travel and trade between these locations, creating the route as they did so.
So what do we know about these Iron Age hill forts?
Hill Fort implies that these features on our landscape were military in nature; a defensive structure that would have protected inhabitants from an attack by enemies. At some point in their history, they may well have been used as a fort in this way. However, other theories have been put forward.
One interesting idea comes from Keith Allsop, a researcher from Wiltshire, who has a theory about climate change and agricultural changes in the Iron Age. In his research paper, he writes that 'at the start of the Iron Age (around 800 – 750 BC) it was colder and wetter than at any other time in the last 11,000 years, and the cold, wet spell lasted until about 400 BC. The attached paper reviews the evidence for climate change and demonstrates how this forced a switch from predominantly arable to predominantly pastoral agriculture and led to the creation of early hill forts, and possibly the creation of common land in lowland areas.' You can read his paper by clicking the button below.
Whatever their use, they still make wonderful places to go and visit, and marvel at the ancient people who built them.
Visiting the Hill Forts
Badbury Clump
Badbury Clump can be found on the B4019 between Faringdon and Coleshill. There's plenty of parking and as it is mostly wooded, it makes for a lovely shaded walk on a hot summer day. The views out over the Thames Valley are amazing, and to the south you get a view over the Vale of the White Horse towards Uffington Castle on the Ridgeway.
Blunsdon Hill Fort
Blunsdon Hill Fort can be found at the end of lane just past Blunsdon Church. If you park in the village, it's just a short walk along Burytown Lane, past the cemetery on your right until you reach an gateway into the hill fort on your left. The earthworks can still be seen, and unlike Badbury Clump, the fort is unwooded giving you a sense of the space it occupied in the landscape.
Ringsbury Camp
Ringsbury Camp can be found on the south west side of the village of Purton. It is accessible by footpaths from the Purton to Royal Wootton Bassett road and from the road out of Purton down Pavenhill. The Camp itself is privately owned but the footpath does run round the southern embankment. A good map and walking boots are recommended for this visit!
Malmesbury
Nothing remains of the hill fort at Malmesbury, though the Athelstan Museum has an illustration on display showing what Iron Age Malmesbury might have looked like. If you look at a LIDAR scan of Malmesbury (right), you can see why it would have attractive as a hilltop settlement, surrounded by river on nearly all side, making it very defendable. Although there's nothing to see from the Iron Age, visiting Malmesbury still makes a great day out!