2015

SP8306 : Small clump of trees south of Beacon Hill

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

Small clump of trees south of Beacon Hill
Small clump of trees south of Beacon Hill
The elevated land at the top of Beacon Hill continues at roughly the same altitude (225m) to this clump of trees on a field boundary. The Cradle Footpath continues past these trees to the right to join up with the Ridgeway LDP, but a sign on the fence to the left warns you that you risk prosecution if you enter the field beyond it - the reason for this is apparent from these two photographs SP8306 : Camera on top of Beacon Hill & SP8305 : View across The Dene to Chequers
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: Boundary, Barrier Place: Ellesborough Primary Subject: Tree other tags: Field Boundary Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Trees [10] · Field [3] Other Photos: · Camera on top of Beacon Hill ·
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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 8347 0602 [10m precision]
WGS84: 51:44.8003N 0:47.5416W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SP 8347 0618
View Direction
SOUTH (about 180 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Geograph
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