Contributors
Include Fiona Gale, County Archaeologist, Denbigh, Shelagh Lewis, Madeley Living History Project and CBA West Midlands. David Matthews, Planning Officer, Cheshire County Council. Margaret Worthington, Porthywaen Study Centre
Tickets
£3 (£1 Students) obtainable from Maggie Rowlands Oswestry Borough Council, 15 English Walls, Oswestry, SY112PA, 01691 670985. Margaret would also welcome enquiries from anyone interested in becoming more invovled with the project or just wishing to be informed of future developments.
Programme
1.30 p.m. Old Oswestry hill fort and its place in the Shropshire Iron Age - Shelagh Lewis
Shropshire is rich in hill forts of the pre-Roman Iron Age but Old Oswestry stands out in terms of position, size and extraordinary constructional features. This talk will consider the site and its relationship to other sites in the county and will review its role in the light of recent local discoveries and fresh attempts to consider Shropshire's position in the wider British context.
2.00 p.m. Recent survey work on six hill forts in north east Wales - Fiona Gale
As part of a wider project, Heather and Hill forts, survey work has been undertaken at six iron age hill forts in north east Wales; Pen y Cloddiau, Moel Arthur, Moel y Gaer Llanbedr, Moel Fenlli, Moel y Gaer Llantisilio and Caer Drewyn. Detailed topographical surveys have been carried out as well as sample areas using geophysical techniques. The presentation will discuss the results of this work and possibilities for future study.
2.30 Tea/Coffee
3.00 p.m. Drink the view, sense the tribe - An interpretation of the views from the hill forts of the Northern Marches - David Matthews
Recent thinking concerning the role of the hill fort during the Iron Age has suggested that visual connections between the hill forts reflect a relationship, perhaps one of kin or allegiance or both, and therefore by implication may be used in an attempt to define the crude geographic limits of pre Roman tribal areas. The talk analyses the intervisible links between the hill forts of the Northern Marches.
3.30 p.m. The Enigma of Wat's Dyke and its relationship to Old Oswestry - Margaret Worthington
Wat's Dyke is a 49 mile long linear bank and ditch that traces a line from Maesbury in the south to Basingwerk in the north. Sitting in the middle of the Shropshire section, and seemingly a part of the design, is Old Oswestry. The nature of this apparent relationship will be examined in the light of extensive research into Wat's Dyke