Vortigern
Studies Index
.Wansdyke Project 21
is part of
Vortigern Studies
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A
Visit to Wansdyke - West Woods
  My first visit to Wansdyke went by almost
completely unnoticed. I was on my first cycling holiday
in Britain, together with my friends Annie, Ellen and Jan
(click here to see them better), who had
never done such a trip before as well. True enough, we
had been practising in the Netherlands to test the
equipment, but the British countryside was a bit of a
novelty to all of us. Me being the historian with scarce
local knowledge, I should have noticed the thing in the
first place.. And in fact, I had read about it earlier.
Wansdyke figured in two books I had devoured as a young
adult reader; The Lantern Bearers and Dawn
Wind, both by Rosemary Sutcliff which I had read many years
before (translated, of course). But that memory returned
only much later. At that time, we cycled on Michelin maps
(for cars) and we couldn't tell a megalith from a
molehill! We simply got on our bikes and saw the
countryside as it rolled along in front of us.
 Though
I think we all read 'Watership Down' by Richard Adams, so
we noticed the Rabbits' adventurous world when passing
through Berkshire on our way from Basingstoke to
Marlborough. We had travelled by train from Sheerness to
London (braving the traffic there to switch stations!)
and on to Basingstoke. After a night near Andover we
reached Marlborough and stayed there for a day at the
very nice Savernake Camp Site (top right), which is in
the forest. We visited the town, which is not very large
and has a very characteristic (may I use the word) High
Street, with very good shops and pubs (click here to enlarge the image) as well as
some very beautiful spots in the area, such as Sanctuary
Stone Circle.
  This megalithic monument is still
a fine place to visit, even though all stones have
vanished. It stood at the starting-point of the eastern Avenue
of standing stones that still lead up to Avebury. It is a
beauty-spot nonetheless (click here for enlargement). The stone slab
with information has since been removed, though I have no
clue wether by criminal elements or the proper
authorities - when I returned here in 1992, there was a plastic
replacement. I have included a picture of it to make up
for its loss (click here for enlargement). However, we
completely missed Avebury. Well, at least I saw Sillbury
Hill (brilliant!), but we had no clue of Avebury, which
lies just a few miles away. Silly, wasn't it? But then,
our goal was Glastonbury in Somerset and we didn't know
about megaliths at all at that time. And Wansdyke? Just a
blot on the map - I still marvel about the total lack of
local interest in this monument. No signs, no books, no
mention in the local guides or leaflets. I absolutely
think that the local folk, spoilt as they are with
Stonehenge, Avebury, Silbury Hill, quite a few White
Horses and some Roman villas, have no clue whatsoever
about this piece of their history. Too bad. So, no small
wonder that we failed to find Wansdyke.
 That's why there's only a picture
of the skyline here, taken across the Vale of Pewsey in
the blistering heat of a very fine August morning. That
morning we broke camp to resume the trek. We had set out
on our way to Glastonbury, and after passing through
Marlborough, we took the first main road south to Pewsey.
This road (the A 345), after climbing the escarpement
near Marlborough, happens to go down the Avon valley.  We passed by Wansdyke completely
unnoticed during the climb along the A345 from
Marlborough towards the Vale of Pewsey. Only later I
looked back to take this picture, when the road got so
steep we had to wait for.. (click here to see who!) To tell you the
truth, this was not because of Wansdyke, but mainly
because of the Alton Barnes White Horse, a figure cut out
in the chalk of the hills which you might just make out
in the centre. Wansdyke runs along the crest of these
hills, or the Marlborough Downs as they're called (click here to see more of them).
  Our holiday went by in continued good
spirits, and though we missed out on Glastonbury...
Goodness me, we were a sorry bunch! Yup, that's me in the
picture left (click here to see the look on my face - my
gosh! I still had my hair by then!) We took a wrong turn
outside of Wells that same evening, ending up miles off
to the north on the first camping area we stumbled across
after dark... The Mendips were good enough to make up for
that, especially Cheddar Gorge. We continued our round
trip back through Shaftesbury, Salisbury (we DID see
Stonehenge!-click here to see we did), Winchester,
Hastings (both the battlefield and the beach) and
Canterbury in the finest of weather.
The British
countryside is of such beauty, I am hooked to it ever
since this first holiday. It's not just the land, it's
also the people and the history - every hedge has it's
own set of legends, which I don't think is too much an
exaggeration! But there would be another opportunity in three years time.
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