Celebrating the Bronze Age

I love this time of year when the heaths are looking spectacular, carpeted with purple heather! The perfect place to connect with nature.

Beneath the carpet, there is often more than meets the eye. Not only are our heaths beautiful places, and home to rare and exciting wildlife….they are also archaeological landscapes. There’s a wealth of amazing history to discover, especially where remaining areas of open heath have never been built on, or been intensively farmed. It’s not surprising that we can still enjoy echoes of the past, when Man has influenced the development of heathland for 10,000 years or more. From clearing areas for settlements and farming, collecting fuel and building materials, to modern-day nature conservation. All our activities have left their mark, shaping the landscape and creating heathland.

There was a great deal of interest in the activities of the Bronze Age at our Heath Week ‘Secrets of the Common’ event. We were joined by David and Izzie, AKA @graenwulf, who brought a flavour of the Bronze Age to the Thames Basin Heaths. Giving us a glimpse of how people may have lived, the clothes they might have worn and the implements used. We were delighted these fascinating living history experts were able to come and share their passion for bringing the past to life.

A photo shows people kneeling on the ground under a gazebo, talking to two young people reenacting Bronze Age life.

Secrets of the Common 2024

Not far from where we held the event lies Yateley Common and Castle Bottom National Nature Reserve. It’s wonderful to think that early settlers once roamed this landscape. At Castle Bottom there’s a burial mound, probably Bronze Age. It’s not hard to imagine the site being chosen for a burial, at 95m it’s a nice vantage point and a prime site. You can just about make out the place they chose. If you wander along the main path to almost the highest point (approx. What3Words: topples.trips.incensed), and look north across an expanse of purple heather, you’ll notice a small hillock about 30m away. There’s not much to see, and we ask that you keep to the path to protect ground-nesting birds, but it serves as a wonderful remember of the past.

Photo shows a sea of purple heather against a blue sky. There's a slight hillock, but it's hard to see.

Burial mound carpeted in heather at Castle Bottom

Sarah
Thames Basin Heaths Partnership