| DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY |
Downland barrows, Roman villas and ancient settlements |
| Wherever we walk on the Island, we follow in the footsteps
of ancient peoples. Their legacy to us can be seen in the monuments and
archaeological remains which pepper the landscape, a landscape which they
themselves helped create. |
| Above Freshwater Bay lies an earthen long barrow (an ancient tomb) which is now 5,000 years old, left to us by the Stone Age community which lived there. Opposite, on Tennyson Down, early Stone Age farmers set to work on a similar tomb and, if you take a walk on the down today, you can see the outline of the mortuary enclosure (the first stage of a tomb) where the bodies of the dead were left in the open before burial. |
 |
Above the pretty village of Mottistone lies the most ambitious
of the prehistoric tombs. At the eastern end of the long mound, facing
the rising sun, is the Longstone. This great stone pillar is a lasting
testimony of Stone Age engineering skills and a statement of faith in
the rising of new life. Bronze Age Islanders crowned their hilltops with bold round burial mounds, now named tumuli. Each tumulus honoured a dead leader and proclaimed, from its position in the landscape, the family territory. Strung out along the tops of the downs, barrows like those on Brook Down and Headon Warren are there for you to find. |
|
The Romans named our Island "Vectis". The name may mean the place that rises up or divides. In their fine villas (farmsteads), the remains of which can be found at Newport and Brading, you can see the comforts and pleasures of a Roman way of life. Hidden amongst the creeks of Northern Wight lies Newtown, a settlement established in the 13th century. At first glance, this place seems to show little more than fields and hedgerows but look a little closer and you will realise you are walking the ancient thoroughfares of a once prosperous medieval port. The elegant town hall, built in 1699, stands alone. Protected by the National Trust, it is open to the public in the summer. Please take nothing but photographs - leave nothing but footprints. |