Cherbury Camp facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cherbury Camp |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Type | Earthwork |
| Location | Charney Bassett, Oxfordshire |
| Official name: Cherbury camp | |
| Reference no. | 1015551 |
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |
Cherbury Camp is an ancient earthwork, which is like a very old fort made of earth. It's located about one mile north of a village called Charney Bassett in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. You can even walk to it from the village using a footpath!
Contents
What is Cherbury Camp?
This amazing place seems to be a fort built during the Iron Age, which was a time long, long ago when people used iron tools. What's interesting is that it's not on a hill, even though it's called a "hill fort-like" earthwork. It's much bigger than Uffington Castle, another famous ancient site nearby.
Why was Cherbury Camp built here?
The area around Cherbury Camp was probably quite marshy, or swampy, a long time ago. This might have made it a good place for a fort because it would have been harder for enemies to attack. Its unusual location and design are similar to another nearby site called Hardwell Castle.
The Legend of the Pusey Horn
There's a cool local story about Cherbury Camp! The legend says that people from Uffington Castle traveled about six miles to attack Cherbury Camp. This was where King Canute and his army, who were Danes, were staying.
A young shepherd boy supposedly saw the attackers coming. He quickly blew his horn to warn the Danes. Because of his warning, the Danes won the battle that happened near the crossroads between Charney Bassett and Buckland. This area then became known as Gainfield.
As a reward for his quick thinking, the shepherd boy was given all the land he could hear from the sound of his horn, around a place called Pusey.
Where is the Pusey Horn now?
Whether the legend is completely true or not, the special horn, known as the Pusey Horn, still exists! It is now kept in the famous Victoria and Albert Museum in London. There was even an inn in Charney Bassett called the Horn Inn, but it closed during the Second World War.
Exploring Cherbury Camp
Archaeologists have studied Cherbury Camp to learn more about its past.
Past Discoveries
An archaeological dig took place at Cherbury Camp in the late 1930s. The findings from this excavation were written about in a report called Oxoniensia. In 2007, scientists used a special method called geophysics to survey the site. This helps them find things underground without digging!
Cherbury Camp is officially recognized as a "scheduled monument." This means it's a very important historical site that is protected by law.
