Is Mam Tor The Prehistoric Capital of the Midlands?

well it's very windy and we are nearly at the top of mam tour an impressive Bronze Age Hill Fort they're incredible views let's get to the very top Hill forts amazing aren't they almost everywhere in Britain you can find them and Beyond from massive Celtic Proto cities to Tiny strongholds for a handful of families they coat the island all right some of them you'll find dog walkers teenagers and tourists at others you'll have the entire place to yourself for an afternoon or more some are famous English Heritage sites even charging an entrance fee others look like no one's been there in a thousand years those are the best ones [Music] there really is just something special about a massive Citadel on a prominent Hill it's the closest I get to a spiritual experience just thinking about all those people who lived there over the years how important it was to them how far we've come since and just how easily we might go back [Music] for me one of my favorites isn't far from where I live it's got a great history to it as well in the Iron Age it was heavily fortified dominating both the Hope Valley on one side the adjacent E Dale on the other hedgerows and gnarled oak trees there's something about this part of the country that that feels old it was England's very first national park after all and right in the center of all that is no exception this is mam tour in the Peak District otherwise known as shivering Mountain we know that in the Iron Age Celtic Warlords held sway here the cultural Continuum of the halstat latan making it all the way here and Beyond in the seven or eight centuries before the Roman invasion foreign [Music] riding Warrior Lords battling it out from heavily fortified citadels the archeology here is somewhat unusual suggesting that people maybe only lived up here at certain times of the year [Music] and even before that for the culture we know as latan and halstadt even began to expand out of Central Europe this place was an important landmark and meeting point maybe even religious Center we're here at mamtor let's get to the top [Music] it's very early when we arrive we've come on foot you can do this entirely the Victorian way on the Great British train [Music] we'll be walking from Station to Station from one Valley to another across a spine in the Peaks [Music] foreign [Music] and before we know it we're in Rolling Green Fields sheep and Southern clouds are companions the last time I walked up this way I didn't even realize that it was a hill fort we get used to things I suppose take them for granted it's only in the last couple of years for obvious reasons that I've really begun appreciating the archaeological gold mine that is the British Countryside sheer number of these monstrosities all over the country the very fact that I'd become so blase about these sites made me want to go and visit as many of them as possible and to spread awareness about these epic monuments right on our doorsteps who needs Peru when we've got these as we continue to walk up The Path my mind warned us to the much earlier Travelers who came up this way in antiquity how long this path has been trodden finally we reach the Ridgeway leading over to the tour foreign the great Ridge it's called and I can see why [Music] it's often said that these Hill forts weren't just built to see in all directions but also to be seen and this place is definitely that it's huge clearly make out the man-made defenses All Around The Summit not the most impressive defenses I've seen But there nonetheless having stood the test of time when almost all other evidence of these people's lives has faded away into nothingness [Music] how much of our world will still be here in 3 000 years [Music] in 1636 long after the place fell out of its original use the dawn of an unprecedented new age of academic inquiry antiquarian and philosopher Thomas Hobbs declared mamtor one of the seven wonders of the peaks in his book The Miracles of the Peaks [Music] incredibly popular ever since [Music] later still the archaeologists moved in 20th century radiocarbon dating places occupation of this site from around 1200 BC with the construction of two large burial mounts on the top of the peak only one of which is clearly discernible today later over a hundred small platforms were etched into the hilltop to allow the construction of a scattering of Timber Huts a settlement [Music] people lived here for hundreds and hundreds of years close to a thousand [Music] just think of all those Generations all those lives lived the same time from the Norman Conquest until today thank you then when the Romans arrived it all came to an end we know next to nothing about those people who called these valleys home not even their myths survive yes ma'am tour is much older than most hillforts this place has its roots in the Bronze Age [Music] they well have been inhabited from as early as the second millennium BC it's old one of the oldest I've been to and despite the crowds one of the most atmospheric too [Music] even in early summer mist and Rain pepper the peak wind howls and mine's race [Music] when this site was built sea peoples raided the great cities the near East ancient Egypt's New Kingdom still Reigns Supreme and the hittite Empire teetered on the verge of collapse foreign and Britain well it was a bit of a Backwater but it was our Backwater inside the massive Fortress ancient ball barrows are to be found the long forgotten Graves of ancient rulers Within [Music] at many Hill forts signs of occupation or at least some sort of activity perhaps of a ritual sort can be dated all the way back to the Neolithic sometimes even earlier holy Wells to Stone circles and barrows spiritual places have a persistent tendency to pass on from one culture to the next losing their original meaning But continuing in use evidence at sites like maiden Castle suggests ritual activity to have continued at many Hill thoughts all the way through the Roman era and sometimes even onwards to the Early Middle Ages and Beyond worship continuing at the places of the revered ancestors [Music] breeding on the hill a church replaced the ancient Hill Fort and earlier place of worship Maiden Castle a temple strikes me as obvious that mamtor had religious associations for the ancients concept of the mountain itself is a Holy One In The West always has been like the cave in mesoamerica [Music] it's been a pillar of faith for all of history from the Tower of Jericho to the pillar Saints of early Christianity there's just something about being high up closer to the Gods high up places have always had an Allure for westerners either side of this one are Lush valleys people must have lived in these valleys for as long as they've lived on the island the Creswell cave art not too far away tells us that much [Music] uttered remnants of enclaves of hunter-gatherers in the last days of the Ice Age [Music] and for those very earliest people heading into these valleys what dominates your view at all times was the same then as it is now the Holy Mountain it may have been a relatively seamless transition for this place to become a spiritual center a site of pilgrimage of sorts but then how did it become fortified it's tempting to think of a Celtic Prince seizing this holy place to promote himself as a Divine ruler but the reality is it's a mystery fortunately no sort of written record survives from back then not even stories we have nothing such is history [Music] we're going for a lovely pint of Ale and a pub lunch in Castleton [Music] foreign as always the Peak District you've been beautiful don't forget to like And subscribe tell me where you'd like to see me visit next and I'll see you next time [Music] so any thoughts on mantor this is windy have been a bad place to live for

Channel: Pete Kelly

Views: 79,558

Keywords: history, travel, visiting history, ancient monuments, stone circles, visiting ancient history, ancient Britain, in search of ancient Britain, history time, archaeology, mythology

Id: UWnVRBt_kcg

Length: 15min 51sec (951 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 03 2023