Cherbury Camp
Encyclopedia
Hill fort
A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...
earthworks, situated at , 1 mile to the north of Charney Bassett
Charney Bassett
Charney Bassett is a village and civil parish about north of Wantage and east of Faringdon in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.-Archaeology:...
, in the Vale of White Horse
Vale of White Horse
The Vale of White Horse is a local government district of Oxfordshire in England. The main town is Abingdon, other places include Faringdon and Wantage. There are 68 parishes within the district...
district of Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is joined to the village by a footpath.
This appears to be an Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
fortification but is far away from any hill or other vantage point. It is, nonetheless, larger than its counterpart, Uffington Castle
Uffington Castle
Uffington Castle is all that remains of an early Iron Age hill fort in Oxfordshire, England. It covers about 32,000 square metres and is surrounded by two earth banks separated by a ditch with an entrance in the eastern end...
, on the nearby Berkshire Downs
Berkshire Downs
The Berkshire Downs are a range of chalk downland hills in southern England, part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
. The surrounding area was likely to have been marshy, so the site may have had strategic importance. In structure and unusual siting, it resembles nearby Hardwell Castle
Hardwell Castle
Hardwell Castle or Hardwell Camp is classed as an Iron Age valley fort, although, like nearby Cherbury Camp, it is not clearly in a strategic or easily defended position. It lies halfway down the scarp slope of the White Horse Hills and is tucked away in a curve, invisible from most angles...
.
Legend has it that the local inhabitants of Uffington Castle travelled the intervening 6 miles to raid Cherbury Camp, where King Canute
Canute the Great
Cnut the Great , also known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden. Though after the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history, historian Norman F...
and his invading army were encamped. However, a young shepherd boy spotted them and blew his horn as a warning to the Danes
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
. They are said to have consequently prevailed in the subsequent battle, which took place at the crossroads half-way between Charney Bassett
Charney Bassett
Charney Bassett is a village and civil parish about north of Wantage and east of Faringdon in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.-Archaeology:...
and Buckland
Buckland, Oxfordshire
Buckland is a village and civil parish about northeast of Faringdon in the Vale of White Horse District. Buckland was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.-Character and geography:...
. The area became known as Gainfield
Gainfield
Gainfield is a small ribbon development in Buckland civil parish about east of Faringdon in the Vale of the White Horse District of England. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire....
as a result. The shepherd boy was granted all the land within the sound of his horn, around Pusey
Pusey, Oxfordshire
Pusey is a hamlet and civil parish east of Faringdon in the Vale of White Horse district. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The village is just south of the A420 and the parish covers about ....
, as a reward for his vigilance.
However true or otherwise this local legend may be, the horn, known as the Pusey Horn, is now housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
. There was also once an inn in Charney Bassett, called the Horn Inn. It was closed during the Second World War.
An archaeological excavation was carried out at Cherbury camp in the late 1930s. The report on this was published in Oxoniensia vol.5, and is available online at http://www.oahs.org.uk/oxo/vol%205/Bradford.doc