Oswald Bertram
A mystery, Lockeridge, Wiltshire, England
This earthwork winds for 35 miles/56km, but little is known about its history. In places the bank is 4m high and the ditch 2.5m deep, which suggests it was defensive. But elsewhere, what remains looks more like a boundary marker. It is not known exactly when it was built, so there are different theories. It might have been for the Romans to protect against rebellion by the Britons, the Britons to guard against invasion by the Anglo-Saxons or for the Anglo-Saxons of Wessex to defend against attack from those of Mercia. It is thought unlikely that a defensive stucture would have been made in the middle of a large wood where there would be little visibility to give warning of an approaching army, so an idea is that this would once have been farmland. Whatever the orign, it is a testament to the passing of time, now a mere curiosity encroached upon by the bluebells that are so abundant here.
A mystery, Lockeridge, Wiltshire, England
This earthwork winds for 35 miles/56km, but little is known about its history. In places the bank is 4m high and the ditch 2.5m deep, which suggests it was defensive. But elsewhere, what remains looks more like a boundary marker. It is not known exactly when it was built, so there are different theories. It might have been for the Romans to protect against rebellion by the Britons, the Britons to guard against invasion by the Anglo-Saxons or for the Anglo-Saxons of Wessex to defend against attack from those of Mercia. It is thought unlikely that a defensive stucture would have been made in the middle of a large wood where there would be little visibility to give warning of an approaching army, so an idea is that this would once have been farmland. Whatever the orign, it is a testament to the passing of time, now a mere curiosity encroached upon by the bluebells that are so abundant here.