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The Hillfortian Times

Beacons of the Past was officially launched on Sep-tember 15th, with an after-noon of prehistoric crafts at Desborough Castle Park, High Wycombe. The event attracted over 100 visitors including volunteers and local residents. Mayor Sara-faz Khan Raja and Council-lor Mohammed Hanif were amongst our visitors, host-ed by CCB Chairman Ian Reay and Chief Officer Sue Holden.

The Iron Age was brought to life with a variety of demonstrations that fea-tured typical skills and methods familiar to Iron Age people. Kim Biddulph was our very own Beacons' Master Chef, presenting her cooking along with samples of bread, butter, cheese and more - all made with pre-historic techniques and in-gredients. Will Mills demonstrated flint tool making techniques, and David Willis taught prehis-toric bushcraft using nettles and other plants to make string and rope.

Visitors witnessed the first prehistoric furnace at Des-borough Castle since... well we may find out later in the project! But in the mean-time, we were treated to a copper smelting demonstra-

tion by Dr Peter Hommel who also cast replica coins and brooches in pewter - remarkable skills that dis-played Iron Age technolo-gies.

Steph Rodgers of the Chil-tern Rangers hosted a 'build-a-box' workshop which attracted lots of younger visitors to create an array of brightly deco-rated boxes; these will be positioned in and around Desborough Castle and Castlefield woods. There was also Iron Age 'Celtic' facepainting by Jen Quille and, as a result, a good many decorated young fac-es were seen running around!

Chilterns Conservation Board member Alison Dog-gett spoke of the origins of the project, particularly recalling the effort and de-termination shown by the late Shirley Judges, CCB board member who is greatly missed.

Dr Wendy Morrison, Pro-ject Manager, welcomed local residents to their very own hillfort at Desborough

The Beacons Are Lit! - Project launched, first of many events

Chilterns Conservation Board

Autumn 2018

Volume 1, Issue 1

Special points of in-

terest:

• Briefly highlight your point of interest here.

• Briefly highlight your point of interest here.

• Briefly highlight your point of interest here.

• Briefly highlight your point of interest here.

Hillfort Fun Facts

• There are over 4000

hillforts recorded in

the UK

• Hillforts are also

found all over

northern Europe

• The largest hillfort

in Europe is Maid-

en Castle, Dorset—

47 acres!

LiDAR—what’s it all

about?

2

Meet our LiDAR survey

team

2

What’s on ? -

Workshops & Fieldwork

3

Our partners 3

Featured feature:

Desborough Castle

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Inside this issue:

Castle, and outlined the exciting opportunities ahead for volunteers and enthusiasts. At dusk, two beacons were lit - one on Desborough Castle and the other on West Wycombe Hill.

This marks the first of many such events that will be occurring around the AONB over the next 3 years, so watch for news alerts for when pre-history is coming to a location near you!

Photo credits : Colin Drake

Fran Momen, CCB volunteer

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Increasingly, archaeolo-gists are using a range of technological tools to sur-vey areas and identify buried structures. Satel-lite photography, Google Earth and even Radar have enabled successful discoveries worldwide, in areas from the Nile Val-ley to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

LiDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging (also known as Airborne Laser Scanning) is another tool favoured by archaeologists. First developed in the 1960s and used by NASA in 1971 to map the surface of the moon, the tech-nique was adopted by archaeologists at the turn of the millennium.

LiDAR offers the great advantage of being used to map large areas very quickly, especially those under dense vegetation.

LiDAR works using a laser scanner, which shoots out thousands of pulses of light towards the ground and then us-es sensors to detect any reflections. By measuring the time it takes between sending out a pulse and its return, millions of ac-curate measurements are taken, and processed to create a digital model of the terrain. Crucially the individual points can be classified as vegetation, buildings or the ground surface. Then trees and buildings can be filtered out, leaving a model of the humps and bumps of the ground surface. These can be digitally enhanced to enable better visualisa-tion of archaeological fea-tures, such as barrows, ramparts and of course, hillforts.

The images on the left show a tree-covered Bod-

dington Camp in Wendo-ver Woods (above) and a processed multiple hill-shade visualistion from Environment Agency (EA) LiDAR data (below). See how the hill-fort emerges from the trees?

This EA survey was a partial coverage at 1m resolution, whilst ours will be at 25cm— our next newsletter will detail the difference this can make, and what it means to the archaeology all around us!

Our LiDAR surveys will be flown between No-vember 2018 and Febru-ary 2019 – so excitement is building! Capturing more detailed data about Chil-terns hillforts may even lead to finding undiscov-ered hillforts.

‘filter out’ the surface

clutter (trees, buildings,

etc.)

Once that is done, it’s

over to the Beacons of

the Past team to spot the

archaeology represented

by the humps and

bumps in the ground.

Commercial Director

Simon Kraeter says, “We

are delighted to have

been chosen to work

Based in Cheddar and

flying from Liverpool,

Cyient Europe (formerly

BLOM) is providing the

survey. This includes

both the acquisition of

the data, by flying over

the entire 1300 km2, and

processing the data,

which will entail classi-

fying the billions of

points into categories

that can then be used to

with the Chilterns Con-

servation Board on what

promises to be a very

interesting project.”

Cyient, established in

1991 and with over

15,000 employees in 21

countries, provides engi-

neering, manufacturing,

geospatial, network and

operations management

services to global indus-

try leaders.

LiDAR—What’s it all about?

Meet our LiDAR survey team

At over 1300 km2, the

Beacons of the Past

LiDAR survey is the

largest high-resolution

archaeological survey in

the UK!

Page 2 The Hil l fort ian Times Volume 1 , Issue 1

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What’s coming up?

A big shout out to our project partners

What: Topographical Survey Training

When: Saturday 20 October 0900-1630

Where: Cholesbury Camp, Cholesbury

This is a day of training for those who would like learn topographic survey skills in the field,

or who would like to brush up skills so they may go on to train others later in the project.

Led by Dr Olaf Bayer of Historic England, this event is limited to 12 individuals.

The success of this project rests on three legs—

• Heritage Lottery Funding, thanks to the support of all

who play the National Lottery

• Our dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers, without

whom we simply couldn't deliver the project

• The financial and in-kind support of our Project Part-

ners. All across the AONB, Societies, Authorities,

Charities, and Individuals are lending a hand, and we

want to say :

Page 3 The Hil l fort ian Times Volume 1 , Issue 1

What: Hillfort Scrub Bashing

When: Wednesday 14 November 0915-1500

Where: Pulpit Hill, Cadsden

Paul Dean will guide us in beating the scrub back to help preserve this amazing hillfort. Safety training, as well as tools and gloves appropriate for the task will be supplied. Bring your own packed lunch and drinks. We will be burning the cuttings, so wear old clothes, and bring a spud for baking in the fire if you like! This event is limited to 15 individuals.

Each issue, this area will

list opportunities for

getting involved in the

Project.

(Additional events that

arise between editions will

still be sent out in emails)

To participate in an event, fill in the form linked in the title. If numbers

are limited, all participants will be entered into a random ballot to fill

the spaces.

*************

If you don’t get a space, there will be plenty of repeat events, so keep trying!

What: An introduction to using GIS for Archaeology

When: Saturday 24 November 1000-1400

Where: Buckinghamshire New University, High Wycombe

Join Dr Ed Peveler for a 4-hour session aiming to give you an introduction to working with spatial data in GIS, in-cluding a theoretical background on subjects such as data model types and coordinate systems, and a more specific workflow for loading, manipulating, and analysing LiDAR data in different formats. The session will be aimed at complete beginners to GIS, using the open source QGIS software - freely available online- so you can go home and develop your skills further. The event is limited to 19 people.

THANK YOU!

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Visit us at www.chilternsaonb.org

@chilforts #Chilforts

Late Neolithic and Bronze Age flints, used for cutting and scrap-ing. An alternative explanation for the ridge could be that it formed part of a barrier designed to keep people (and animals) in: some hillforts are thought to have functioned as animal enclo-sures, with local shepherds and pastoralists using the hilltop for their herds in the spring and summer. Desborough occupies more than 6 ha in size but has little archaeological evidence of buildings/cooking/waste dis-posal. Desborough after the Iron Age Roman (AD 43 – 410) pottery, tile and metalworks found in medieval ditch fills at Des-borough suggest that the Chil-terns was densely settled in Ro-man times, perhaps even on the Desborough Castle site itself. Later in Anglo-Saxon times (AD 410 – 1066), Desborough gave its name to a ‘hundred’- an admin-istrative region- and it is possible that the hilltop was a meeting place. which often were sited on or near ancient earthworks. The medieval castle’s defensive bank and ditch were constructed in the style of the new Norman aristocracy. The pottery evidence at Desborough makes it unclear when the castle was built, but the ditches around the castle date to the early to mid-twelfth century. The prehistoric defences were likely still upstanding when the castle was constructed and may have been reused as an outer wall for the castle, with the sur-

The site of Desborough Castle, popularly known as the Round-about, is perfect for defence and control. The steep hill face to the West would have acted as a nat-ural barrier, and the location allows for commanding views to the north. The impressive medi-eval castle site is clearly visible today, but around its edges lie traces of an Iron Age hillfort, potentially dating back as far as 1000 BC. With a history of hu-man activity lasting over 4000 years, Desborough Castle is a complex site which allows us to study human culture, daily life, and land use change from pre-historic times to the medieval ages.

View over the Iron Age earthwork towards the tree-covered medieval banks

Prehistoric Desborough A man-made ridge follows the line of today’s Booker Lane into the field and around the castle ringworks to the west and north: possibly the remains of a semi-circular defensive rampart pro-tecting the site. The date of the rampart and the associated ditch on the outside remains uncer-tain; however its form and the area of land it enclosed (c. 10 ha) is consistent with other Late Bronze Age and Iron Age hill-forts. No other evidence has been identified, except for a few

rounding ditch recut for the same reason. This construction phase may have been intended as a defensive measure to pro-tect the vulnerable uphill side of the castle, by creating a sec-ondary outer wall around it incorporating the original Iron Age ridge. It has been suggested that the castle, like others built during the Anarchy (1135 – 1153), was a ‘siege castle’ where King Ste-phen may have established a base given its strategic location to the Wye Valley and the roads connecting Oxford and Wallingford to the west. After King Stephen’s reign, the castle continued to be a pres-tigious residence until the 13th century; the defences were maintained, substantial build-ings were erected, and occu-pants dined on deer, a dish confined to the nobility. Desborough’s fortunes de-clined thereafter and finally, the ditches and defences were backfilled, and the area used as farmland until this century.

Desborough Castle earthworks as visualized through Environment Agency LiDAR data

Featured Feature: Desborough Castle

Phone: (+44) (0)1844 355 525

Email: wmorrison@chilternsaonb.org

epeveler@chilternsaonb.org

Fiona McKendrick, CCB volunteer