2015

SP8306 : Cymbeline's Castle from top of Beacon Hill

taken 9 years ago, near to Ellesborough, Buckinghamshire, England

Cymbeline's Castle from top of Beacon Hill
Cymbeline's Castle from top of Beacon Hill
This is the view to Cymbeline's Castle (see below) from the top of Beacon Hill, the elevational difference between the two is about 150' (45m)
Cymbeline's Castle & Beacon Hill

Adjacent to Beacon Hill to the west is an ancient Motte & Bailey system known as Cymbeline's Castle (or Mount). Any connection with the ancient British king - whom Shakespeare wrote a play about - is I think speculative at best. However it has been suggested that the nearby Kimbles (Little & Great) are named after him, so it does at least have some plausible link back to pre-Roman times. Although Shakespeare used the name Cymbeline (for his entirely fictional tale), this 1st Century king who ruled a large area of Southern England before the Roman invasion, is more generally known historically as Cunobelinus, though he is known also by various other names such as Cynfelyn and Kymbelinus.
The motte and bailey(s) are overgrown with impenetrable scrub - and surrounded by barbed wire, so access to the site is unfortunately not possible, however if you scale Beacon Hill, the views down to it are very good.
Cymbeline's Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and there is an extensive and informative write up on the EH website here LinkExternal link
Beacon Hill itself looks an eminently suitable place for a hill fort, and it too is a Scheduled Ancient Monument as it is the site of a Bronze Age Bowl Barrow see LinkExternal link
Just south of the barrow is another S.A.M., A Pillow Mound LinkExternal link thought to be associated with the breeding of rabbits on the hill.


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Rob Farrow and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Historic sites and artefacts Village, Rural settlement Place: Ellesborough Primary Subject: Motte other tags: Motte and Bailey Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Cymbeline's Castle [8] ·
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SP8306, 73 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Rob Farrow   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Saturday, 18 April, 2015   (more nearby)
Submitted
Tuesday, 28 April, 2015
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SP 8332 0633 [10m precision]
WGS84: 51:44.9688N 0:47.6675W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SP 8356 0621
View Direction
West-northwest (about 292 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Geograph
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