Dilton Marsh, Westbury
and surrounding areas
.
.
Dilton Marsh is central to an area of legend
and magic. Within twenty miles are sites known throughout the world such
as Stonehenge and Amesbury to the southeast - thought to be the birthplace/burial
place of Ambrosius Aurelius, brother of Uther Pendragon and king of the
British. Also Glastonbury to the south-west , which is thought to be the
site of King Arthurs fabled Avalon. Avebury standing stones to the west
which have been voted Britains most popular and accessible historical site
(pictured above). Solsbury Hill with it's (modern-day) magical mazes
is to the northeast. Salisbury Plain is to the immediate west of Westbury,
and the town is overlooked by the Westbury White Horse. There are many
of these white chalk horses in Wiltshire, but Westbury's is the oldest.
The White Horse is situated on the side of the ancient Iron Age Bratton
Hillfort, with an even more ancient burial mound aged at between 4500 and
6000 years old. Burial mounds abound throughout the area, as do springs
ascribed with magical properties, and sites of ancient battlefields where
the history of modern England was decided. It is also an area of gentle
beauty, with bluebells and celandine growing wild through the area and
gentle rolling green hills giving pastoral scenes the equal of any in Britain.
.
Andrews’ and Dury’s 1810 Map of Dilton
Marsh
(amended version of an original map drawn
in 1773)
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.
Westbury to the northeast, Dilton Marsh centre,
Short Street to the south, the map covers
an approximate 4 mile area. Bratton is to
the immediate east-north-east of Westbury.
Short Street is immediately adjacent to Chalcot
Park, the largest 'Big House' in the parish. Archeological evidence of
a Romano-British settlement has been found in the grounds, and considerable
amounts of pottery and jewellery have been found. Short Street itself was
named after the Roman 'strata' or paved way, as a major Roman road was
nearby.
Note the area west of Short Street, known
at the time as Pricketts Wood. This changed
name dramatically some time soon after, as
did a nearby farm and a local road. The story
behind these changes of name was that a young
lady of the area had two suitors, and they found out about each other...
One challenged the other to a duel, and one suitor was shot dead. The dead
man's large black dog attacked the killer - who died as a result of the
mauling. The young woman was so distraught at the deaths of both her suitors
that she committed suicide, and was buried in unconsecrated ground at the
crossroads - now Dead Maids Cross. Her farm (around the Brokeway Gate area)
became Dead Maids Farm, and Prickett's Wood was said to be haunted for
ever more by the ghost of the vengeful dog, and is now Black Dog Wood.
There have also been stories of a human ghost appearing in modern times
to motorists on the nearby road through the woods. Spooky!
.
.
Westbury area
The entire area around Westbury is somewhat
spooky...
.
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Crop circle at Westbury
.
Among other things, the area is famous world-wide
over past years for 'crop circles' - huge flattened areas in fields appearing
overnight in often intricate patterns without a plausible explanation for
being there. The more complex have been branded hoaxes, but for some of
the simpler patterns, no explanation can be found - other than that they
were made by UFO's!
.
.
Westbury White Horse, Bratton Castle and
Long Barrow
.
The most spectacular attraction near Westbury
is the White Horse - this lies on the side of a massive Iron Age hillfort
- and can be seen for many miles around, including very clearly from Dilton
Marsh. An important ancient roadway ran to the site through Kings Chalcot,
Short Street and Wellhead to Bratton - about four miles away. The Bratton
Hillfort is situated around an even earlier construction - a Neolithic
long barrow, or burial mound, dating from 4000 -2500 BC.
.
.
Westbury White Horse and Bratton Castle
hillfort,
the long barrow may be seen directly above
the horse.
(Photo faces east)
.
An early White Horse is believed to have been
cut into the hillside above Westbury from chalk, it is thought that this
horse commemorated the defeat of the Danes by King Alfred at Ethandun in
AD878. Some confusion arose as to the direction this horse faced, and it
was thought that it was opposite to the present horse - which would have
had to have completely obliterated the original horse if this were so...
This belief was almost certainly caused by a printing error in the 1772
edition of Camden's Britannia, from a drawing by Richard Gough. The printing
plate was reversed accidentally making the horse appear to face to the
right. A map was made by Andrews and Dury in 1773 however, showing a very
similar rendition of the horse facing left, which has shown the belief
that the old horse was very different to the current one to be misleading.
.
.
Left: Gough's horse, right: Andrews and
Dury's horse
.
The 'new' horse was cut in 1770, so the drawing
above was probably of this horse anyway. Gough's description of the horse
was of it being over 100 feet long, and almost as high, and it's believed
his drawing was foreshortened by his view of the horse from below. There
is no record of the original horse's appearance. A Victorian vicar by the
name of Rev Plenderleath, obviously not impressed by this horse described
it's carver as follows: "a wretch of the name of Gee, who was steward to
Lord Abingdon". He went on to say "Mr Gee's horse... was repaired and the
outlines practically recut, about the year 1853... Since [1870] some further
reformations have, I believe, taken place. I remember that before the latter
works were begun some one was good enough to write and ask me [..] whether
there was any objection to the outlining of the figure with kerb stones.
Mr Gee's horse appeared to me to enjoy the same security against injury
causable by restoration as did Juvenal's traveller against loss by robbers
when his purse was already empty." Concrete and kerbstones were added in
1950s to ensure its ongoing survival , but fortunately Rev Plenderleath
was not around to witness this......he would no doubt have seen it only
as a further indignity.
There have been occasional stories of the
horse walking down to Bratton brook for a drink of water on Midsummer's
Eve, but there have been no sighting since it was coated in concrete in
the 1950's.
.
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An early photograph of the White Horse.
.
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Bratton Castle is a large Iron Age hillfort with
an entrance on the southern side. The hillfort is located at the top of
an escarpment and covers 23 acres. The hill marks the beginning of
Salisbury Plain chalklands to the south. The hillfort's defences consist
of double banks with a ditch between, with the northern face built immediately
on the edge of the escarpment. As a fortification, it was formidable, and
is one of the best examples of an Iron Age hillfort. It is one of a string
of hillforts in the area, showing defence and safety for the people to
have been of utmost importance, and also showing the considerable prosperity
of the inhabitants.
Bratton became the site of King Alfred's defeat
of the Danes in the Battle of Ethandun. This battle has now been ascribed
as “giving birth to the English Nation” on a memorial monument. The battle
took place in 878AD after Guthrum's Danish Army invaded King Alfred's encampment
in Chippenham. Alfred, King of Wessex, gathered an army of 4000 loyal Saxons
from Somerset, Hampshire and Wiltshire and marched from the south of Edington
to Ethandun to confront the Danish force. Guthrums' army set off from Chippenham
to meet them. Alfred and his superior force took the victory and Alfred's
sovereignty over Wessex was secured. The memorial stone at Bratton, funded
by both British and Danish organisations, was unveiled by the Marquis of
Bath to mark the battle as part of the Year 2000 Millennium celebrations.
.
William and
Martha Wheeler
Short Street,
Dilton Marsh, Wiltshire
Elizabeth
(Wheeler) and Thomas Greenway Burge
Dilton
Marsh Wiltshire, Batheaston Somerset & Redbank Victoria
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