There’s far more to British history than kings, queens and civil wars. The earliest evidence of human habitation dates back a full 900,000 years, in the form of fossilised footsteps found off the coast of what is now Happisburgh, in Norfolk. The period of time between then and the start of the Roman conquest in AD 43 is an almost unfathomably long one — and it left behind far more than toeprints.
In fact, evidence of this near-endless human prehistory is everywhere. To look at England and Wales with your eyes wide open is to see the remnants of ancient hill forts, timeworn trade routes, sacred pagan sites and millennia-old burial mounds. From the giant chalky contours of Oxfordshire’s Uffington White Horse — carved out of the hillside sometime in the late Bronze Age — to Denbighshire’s Pontnewydd Cave, where 230,000-year-old Neanderthal teeth have been uncovered, the stories held by the past are frequently astonishing.
The area in and around modern-day Wiltshire is an obvious case in point. Stonehenge’s megalithic standing stones have puzzled people for centuries. How were such massive stones transported — on log rollers, by glacial ice, or floated down rivers? And how did the builders achieve the precision to align them with the solstice sun? Even today, it remains a fascinating site to explore. YHA New Forest provides a natural base to do just that.
A short way to the north sits the no-less-beguiling Neolithic site of Avebury. Its giant circular chalk bank, ringed by sandstone pillars and today enclosing a small village complete with a pub, was constructed some 4,600 years ago and is still the world’s largest stone circle. Also in the vicinity is Silbury Hill, Europe’s largest manmade mound, a pyramid-sized protrusion which has stood enigmatically over the countryside for 2,400 years.
Older than them all, meanwhile, is nearby West Kennet Long Barrow, a chambered tomb built in around 3650 BC. The remains of at least 46 people have been found inside, along with an assortment of beads, pottery, weapons and more. To imagine their lives is an enticing but elusive prospect. “Prehistory is about facts and information, but it's mostly about people,” writes archaeologist Francis Pryor in his book, Britain BC, “and (we) will never be able to understand the challenges faced by ancient communities.”
These words ring especially true when considering the 1,000-plus hill forts that stud the national map. Dating in some cases to the Bronze Age but more commonly to the Iron Age, their hilltop locations gave them invaluable defensive vantage points. Many still bear evidence of their embankments, gateways and protective ditches, their construction all the more impressive when you consider they would have been built using little more than wooden shovels and antler picks.
Among the most notable is Maiden Castle in Dorset — under an hour away from YHA Swanage — which covers the area of some 50 football pitches and where the huge grassed-over ramparts would once have protected hundreds of Iron Age locals.
Almost all our National Parks hold richly interesting archaeological sites. As examples, Northumberland National Park has ancient highlights including Lordenshaws, where rock carvings, hillforts and burial mounds paint a vivid picture of years gone by; the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park is home to the remarkable Castell Henllys, where experts have rebuilt traditional roundhouses to replicate life here more than 2,000 years ago; and Dartmoor National Park is scattered with vestiges of once-busy Bronze Age communities, each site still thick with atmosphere.
The Lake District is well known for its stirring prehistory. The famous Castlerigg Stone Circle is made up of no less than 38 standing stones — some of them three metres high — and represents one of the oldest neolithic monuments in the country, also sitting within walking distance of YHA Keswick. The more remote Swinside Stone Circle, meanwhile — some 45 minutes by road from YHA Eskdale — is less visited but just as evocative.
In the Midlands, the Peak District is another area rife with age-old remnants. In the words of celebrated local archaeologist John Barnatt, “what you see has been shaped by people in different ways over the last 10 millennia to create wonderful contrasts”, and with locations such as Creswell Crags — where flint tools and rock art show hunting was taking place here during the last Ice Age — you can understand his enthusiasm. Arbor Low, a large Neolithic henge close to YHA Hartington Hall, is another prime site.
Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park has historical tales of its own, with around 30 hillforts and no shortage of ancient cairns and burial chambers. To choose one of countless examples, Bryn Cader Faner in the heart of the park is a well-preserved Bronze Age round cairn, said to look like a crown of thorns from a distance. It’s more than 4,000 years old, and as with so many of our prehistoric treasures, the walk to reach it is a panoramic treat in itself.
This, of course, is key to the whole appeal of these remarkable portals into the past. These sites might have stories dating back many thousands of years but they now form part of a living landscape, playing a priceless cultural role in a United Kingdom which, when they were built, was an alien concept belonging to a far-off future.
As a final example, consider the Great Orme Mines in North Wales, a short distance from YHA Conwy. Its mines are now a popular visitor attraction and have a staggering history, dating back to more than 2,000 years before the Roman conquest. The copper hacked out from its caverns and tunnels was once melted with tin to form the bronze that gave the Bronze Age era its name. Indeed, some estimates suggest enough copper was extracted here to forge 10 million axe heads. This, and eye-opening prehistoric facts just like it, are written in every landscape around England and Wales. It’s a gift that should never be overlooked.
Photo credit: Nicholas - stock.adobe.com / David Matthew Lyons - stock.adobe.com / David Matthew Lyons - stock.adobe.com / Trevor Mayes - stock.adobe.com / Terry Richer - stock.adobe.com
