Barbury Castle

About

Barbury Castle is a scheduled hillfort in Wiltshire, England, about 5.5 miles (9 km) south of Swindon.

Description: Barbury is one of several such forts found along the ancient Ridgeway route. The site, which lies within the Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, has been managed as a country park by Swindon Borough Council since 1971. It is on Barbury Hill, a local vantage point, which, under ideal weather conditions, commands a view across to the Cotswolds and the River Severn. It has two deep defensive ditches and ramparts. The site spans two civil parishes: Ogbourne St Andrew (to the south, in Wiltshire) and Wroughton (in the Borough of Swindon).

History: Hillforts date from the late Iron Age. Barbury was in use during the Roman occupation of the area, and archaeological investigations have shown evidence of a number of buildings, indicating a village or military garrison at this time. In the 6th century the site became part of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex, following the defeat of the Romano-British at the Battle of Beranburgh, Beran Byrig or Beranbyrig in AD 556. Centuries later the area was a favourite haunt of the 19th-century writer Richard Jefferies, who...