Blackenbury Camp Iron Age promontory fort
       
     
The hill fort, viewed from the Tyndale Monument, resides within the trees
       
     
Blackenbury Camp Iron Age promontory fort
       
     
Blackenbury Camp Iron Age promontory fort

This one was a bit of a happy accident as I had no idea it was here. We'd set off for a Sunday afternoon walk with my brother-in-law's family to the Tyndale Monument (the Nibley Knob as it's known locally) which was erected in 1866 to the memory of William Tyndale, a local man from North Nibley, who'd had the bare faced cheek to translate the bible from Latin to English and was strangled and burned for his trouble in France! 

Making our way along the escarpment from Wooton-under-Edge through dense woodland I was suddenly aware that we were walking along the edge of some massive banks and ditches and I asked if it was what I thought it was and was given an affirmative. As we traversed the edge it became clear that it was quite a good size and a typical Iron Age bivallate promontory fort, not quite as impressive as it’s nearby neighbour at Uley Bury and certainly a lot more overgrown with vegetation, but there had been obvious attempts to clear some of this from the outer ditches. On the South Western edge there was an entrance way, but it was difficult to know whether this was original as it looked a bit too new and there were bits of limestone building material visible under tree roots. Possibly it had recently been enlarged to enable the gradual clearance of the interior. However, at the moment the interior is still quite choked and almost impenetrable. It would definitely be worth a revisit during the late autumn when the foliage has thinned as the views over the surrounding area to the South and as far as Bristol are just stunning.

The hill fort, viewed from the Tyndale Monument, resides within the trees
       
     
The hill fort, viewed from the Tyndale Monument, resides within the trees