JOINT EVENTS

Archaeology visit to look at 3000 years of farming on Buxbury Hill at SuttonMandeville.

Seventeen members gathered off the A30 and walked up the hill on a Bronze Agepath still used today as a public footpath.

It had begun as a footpath but had been developed as wheeled vehicles became available. It would also have been used to drive cattle and other stock to the markets at Chiselbury Camp on Fovant Downs.

On the top of the hill are distinct dew ponds and later water resevoirs.  It is difficult to date these features as they were used over many centuries.  They would have been made by travelling specialist builders, much as thatchers and potmenders travelled around to ply their trade. Some however are easier to date.  One is made of bricks which look fairly modern and has a rather rusty galvanised iron tank with an old milk churn inside. Obviously mid 20th century origin . There are many chalk pits, again dug over centuries, used to enrich the fields before the Victorians discovered guano, and then artificial fertilizers. There are two late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age boundary ditches - probably 5 feet deep with the brilliant white chalk piled either side to make a distinctive statement of ownership.  It also made the stealing of cattle more difficult. The changing weather system at this time meant that the lower lying land became more swampy, and as the population increased, higher ground became more desirable and fights between families and 'tribes' became more common.

There is at least one distinct lynchet, a strip of flat land caused by ploughed soil drifting down hill to the edge of the field.  This shows that the land has been worked from the earliest times perhaps even Neolithic times when 'ploughing' would have consisted of scratching with an antler pick. The members enjoyed the beautiful views, the sunshine and a wide variety of meadowand downland flowers which attracted butterflies and moths.  Lunch was served in Margaret's garden under the appletree.