Careby Camp

IF YOU GO DOWN to the woods today you are sure to find something interesting especially at Careby, a village six miles south west of Bourne.

Careby Camp can be found in the nearby woodland, a mile to the south east, the site of what was probably an Iron Age hill fort, oval shaped and protected by a ditch and two lines of fortifications 40 yards apart.

The Iron Age Britain is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age (2,100-700 BC) and dating from 800 BC to the first century AD and marked by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles. We may also assume the people who lived here at that time were of Celtic origin.

The name Careby derives from the Old Danish Kari, meaning Kari's village or farmstead, and first appears as Careby in 1189. The term camp, used in Careby Camp, comes from the Latin campus meaning field or place, or higher ground surrounded by woods, although it is now largely associated with tent or hutted areas or military bases. During the Iron Age, the fort would have been a defensive structure to protect the community from marauding tribes, hence the evident fortifications which would also have included a high, wooden stockade on the inner rampart.

Access to the site today is available but difficult because it is a long walk from the main road and although the track is well used by joggers, it would be inadvisable to take a car. The wood has ridings, or paths, within it but there is no evidence of an official public right of way.

The site is now overgrown and it is certainly a ghostly place, not least because every time you approach one of the animal-made entrance points you always hear rustling and crashing as something in the undergrowth bounds away. The eastern side of the fort is one huge badger den and foxes have been seen there as well as deer. There is also a distinct feeling of history as you tread the way of our ancestors so many years ago.

Photographed in September 2012