Modern times on The Bulwarks, Minchinhampton

I stood a few yards away from where I parked on Minchinhampton Common taking in the sky and the views in various directions. I listened for the usually abundant skylarks singing in the air, but there were no songs today. The natural grazed limestone grassland is a large and ancient landscape now managed by the National Trust - Minchinhampton and rodborough Commons, where Commoners’ Rights still prevail.

It is also an important recreational resource for the Stroud valleys for runners, walkers, both with and without dogs, kite flyers and even golfers. Today they seemed to be quite prevalent probably because of the brighter weather. The cows have been removed to their winter quarters so the golfers aren’t competing with them for use of the fairways and greens, which can be very amusing.

This picture isn’t of a golfer's ‘green’ and surrounding bunkers. It is in fact a crossing point of The Bulwarks, the ancient earthworks which cross the common in various places. There is some dispute whether they were built in Iron Age times, during some part of the Roman occupation or even from the Saxon Dark Ages. I did a quick search and found this interesting paper (well at least to me) titled ‘The Minchinhampton Bulwarks – a post-Roman frontier?’, pages 3 to 9,  written in 1999. It assesses the various possibilities quite well, with some diagrams and maps.

Just after finding the paper I also discovered a report in today’s The Guardian about a new mosaic discovered in the famous Roman villa complex at Chedworth about twenty miles away. It suggests new excavations there provides evidence for continuation of the Roman influence beyond their generally thought of departure after 410 AD. What is particularly relevant to our area is that the famous Woodchester Roman Villa with its wonderful Orpheus mosaic, the second largest of its kind in Europe and one of the most intricate, dated to c. AD 325, is less than two miles from this spot. The Woodchester villa is thought to be the country house of the Roman Governor of the province, or possibly the home of the Roman General, Vespasian.