The Lambton Worm and Penshaw Hill
Around the time of the crusades (in some accounts) in the area around the river Wear, there is a tale told about a fearsome dragon, which terrorised the area and was dispatched with cunning by a brave warrior.
Category: Ancient Sites
Hambledon Hill
Originally the hill served as the site of a Middle Neolithic Causeway Camp, such as the one at Windmill Hill in Avebury. The camp was enclosed by causeway ditches to the Eastern end of the hillside, perhaps protected by wooden palisades, evidence suggests the camp was attacked by archers in an inter tribal skirmish.
Bottlebush Down
A horseman garbed in Bronze Age attire has been seen on Bottlebush Down. He disappears into a long barrow from the site of a cursus on the B3081. Many witnesses including respected Archaeologists have seen the spirit. Bottlebush Down seems to have been important to early man and is littered with his remains.
Flowers Barrow
An Iron Age hillfort above Lulworth Cove seems to have been taken over by the Romans when they invaded. The area is said to be haunted by phantom Roman soldiers seen several times over the years. Traditionally they are said to appear at times of national crisis. They have also been seen at Bindon Hill and Knowle hill.
Directions:
Bincombe Down
Bronze Age barrows on the down are known as the music barrows, and are traditionally thought to be home of the fairy folk. According to folklore it was possible to hear the fairy revelry if you placed your ear to the barrows at midday.
Directions:
A public footpath runs near the down reached from the South West Coast Path.
Maiden Castle
This is the largest Iron Age Hillfort in Britain, consisting of a spectacular series of bank and ditch defences enclosing an area of 45 acres. These fortifications cover the much earlier site of a Middle Neolithic Causeway Camp from around 3000BC. The camp was enclosed by two lines of ditches, the remains of which are indistinguishable.
Knowlton Henges
The area around Knowlton formed a major ritual site in the Neolithic period, the main focus being three Neolithic henge earthworks. Two have long since been ploughed and weathered away, but one remains with the ruin of a twelfth century Norman church at its centre, probably some form of controlling pagan sites by the early church.
Nine Stones Circle
This small stone circle is set enchantingly by the busy A35, although it is still worth a visit on the round trip from Maiden Castle, which is to the West along the same road.
Directions:
Off the A35 to the West of Winterbourne Abbas.
Badbury Rings
This concentric ring hillfort dates from the Iron Age, and according to archaeologists was built to stem an invasion from the Northeast of the country.
The Cerne Abbas Giant
The Cerne Abbas Giant or the ‘Rude Man’ is one of the largest hillfigures in Britain, he (the figure’s gender is beyond doubt) is one of two representations of the human form, the other being the Long Man of Wilmington in East Sussex. The giant, carved in solid lines from the chalk bedrock measures in at 180 feet high, and carries a huge knobbled club, which measures 120 feet in length.
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