Crikey what a hazardous shoot! Glad you got home unscathed. My guess is an hour to film that sequence walking up the hill? Thanks for sharing this fantastic site - beautifully shot as always. Sometimes antiquities are a bit like lingerie. Having bits of it hidden and covered up is somehow more exciting than a naked ditch!
What a fantastic analogy, Tweedy! And absolutely on the money! I might need to discuss some sort of licensing arrangement for its use, as it seems to efficiently capture the essence of this channel?! Needless to say, I didn’t time that filming sequence, but I’d say about 30 minutes. The biggest problem was that people kept coming down the path, and on 3 occasions, the tracking on the camera dropped me and went with them. Very frustrating! Glad you enjoyed Warton Crag - it is a beautiful spot. Thank you!
@@WC21UKProductionsLtd There is no doubt a racy undertone to your channel given all the tweed! Unquestionably the attire of the most desirable members of society. ...but I certainly wouldn't want to undermine its considerable academic contributions by suggesting it is merely some kind of peacock display! (I might have been drinking this evening. My apologies.)
You’re on fire this evening, Tweedy! I like to quote Roly Birkin QC at times like this: “but I’m afraid, I was very, very drunk”! Have a cracking evening!
Hi Darren. Thank you for yet again showcasing a hill fort that no one else can be bothered to climb and film. That’s what sets you apart from the rest 😂, as does the shear effort expended to create such great content. Very interesting content indeed. And to prove how influential your content is, my wife and I visited Grimes Graves in Norfolk yesterday. We enjoyed going down a Neolithic flint mine, something we would not have considered until we discovered your channel. 👏👏👍😀 PS Where do I send my postcard. I guess WC21 is part of the postcode?
Thanks Andrew! Really humbling to receive such feedback and rather wonderful to learn that you’ve been inspired to go out and visit sites yourself. Grimes Graves was a very important Neolithic industrial site, I believe, and somewhat akin to the Neolithic Axe Factory in Great Langdale. Hope you enjoyed it - I do need to check it out.
@@WC21UKProductionsLtd It was indeed your Axe Factory video which spiked my interest to visit Grimes Graves. English Heritage though have turned it into a tourist attraction. But it was worthwhile and didn’t cost us anything as we are members.
Another excellent video! It takes a good deal of time and effort to set up those shots in a place like that and being pursued and shot at by UFOs, aimed at by kamikaze fighter jets and narrowly avoiding sudden, gaping sinkholes must certainly be very trying at times.
Thank you - glad you enjoyed it! This shoot was particularly tough! Thank goodness I didn’t fall down that hole! For the first attempt, I just lost my mojo for all the B-Roll in that terrible gale!
Hi Darren, Thanks very much for going back and having a second stab at recording it. It came out perfectly, well done. Fantastic views from the top a real natural stronghold. My guess is that it took you 43 minutes 19 seconds extra to do the action packed climbing bits. The 19 seconds was for asking us to guess how long it took you!! Maybe what could be done is clearing a small section, perhaps where you made your discovery. I have a band saw but I suspect I wouldn't be allowed to take it with me (getting permission from Nuria that is). It really is overgrown, my recent walks have taken me on some lesser troden paths and it's very easy to get lost on the way back, fortunately for me yesterday someone had put a beer bottle on the end of a fallen branch which served as a rudimentary cairn, it didn't stop me taking the most ridiculously steep path on the way back though. The weather conditions certainly wouldn't put me off a visit however the place seems frought with other dangers either from below or above!! All the best!!
Thanks David - I’m glad I took a second run at it - it looked so much better with a bit of sunlight. That area is a bit of a haven for wildlife - despite the sinkholes and crashing vehicles! I genuinely did get lost on day one. Completely disoriented, but it did enable me to see a beautiful deer. Too slow with camera! From what I can ascertain, the hill was much more open when the antiquarians discovered the fort in the 18th Century. Makes sense they were enclosing it for grazing, I guess. Bit of a shame that litter helped you find your way back - that’s been the case for me in the past. Spot on with the timing guess there!
Maybe a winter trip after the undergrowth had died back might reveal more? We are having a brief respite from the heat and it's pleasantly cool. I set off yesterday on an open track which narrowed down into a path and then a seriously overgrown one I was on the verge of giving up but then I spotted my target and a possible path to it. Although the path wasn't marked, Google maps made me think it that the area wasn't totally overgrown. I suppose it depends on what time of the year it was taken. Right now the foliage is having a field day (never a truer word ....) The bottle helped me on my way and on my way back, it was so far off the beaten track that there was no more litter at all. Plenty of graffiti on arrival though but I've seen worse. On the way back I missed the turn and carried on a ridiculously steep path (really needed an ice pick, well a mud pick) eventually I got to the top to discover an abandoned bathtub and a heap of what looked to be emptied plant pots without the plant or the pot!! What an earth had I gone looking for? Well it was the header pond for an abandoned electricity generating station, I'll post some photos soon. It's not Roman or neolithic but nonetheless interesting (puts on WC21 end of video face) ......
Interesting to hear that you’re getting a Summer - it’s like we’ve skipped straight to Autumn here! That was a good description and I could imagine the grabbing undergrowth in the heat!
@@WC21UKProductionsLtd Thing is if it had been hot then I just wouldn't have gone out. I thought I'd done my last hike before summer but a storm system has settled over the peninsular (cold air at altitude known sometimes as a cold drop) and its lovely and cool. Earlier this week it was 37° and I took a drive higher up into the woods where (temperature now down to 33°) you get a wonderful view over the still snow capped high mountain.
Great fun and showing me something else, once again, I did not know. Your smooth presentation certainly helps to keep us 21st century ADHD folks glued to the screen to take it all in. And it's not English Heritage, so nobody was waiting there to beat you up for filming. I guess just brutally removing those shrubs is the right thing to do in this particular case, as the roots will be prying the ancient stone walls apart in a matter of a few decades, if nothing is done. The number of times I zipped up the M6 looking left at The Residence and missing that lovely rock face right behind it! Isn't that typical? Great part of the world and I'm missing it every day, even if it's a bit wet and cold and windy and drizzling and grey...'bracing' is the word I was looking for...Keep them coming and ignore the cars they are throwing at you - They don't really mean to do any harm, just little boys playing, I guess.
Thank you. Yes, it’s painful to think what those roots are doing to the stone walls. I think I’ll go back in the winter to see if that makes them anymore traceable. Back when they were enclosing the crag, it must have been much more open. Sorry to hear you’re missing Blighty and hopefully you can get back over here at some stage.
Thanks Chris - yes, I will go back. Two videos for the price of one! I’m really glad you’re enjoying the history and thank you so much for sharing that - it does spur me on.
Beautifully shot video, I love ferns and there was a lot of ferns in this video! Special effects were fantastic and the host, as usual, was brilliant, witty and informative. It’s a 10 out of 10 from me.
Thank you for persevering in the face of all the challenges. I think it took you 45 mins to do that shot. Vistas were lovely as were the botanicals. Looking forward to the next.
What an amazing place! Thank you for going back up the day after to capture such spectacular footage. My guess of what the third cave was called was spectacularly incorrect...and given I said my guess out loud it earned me a stern look off the missus.
I can only guess at what you said! Plenty of potential for the doghouse there! Thank you and glad you enjoyed it. I’m glad I went back - it looked so much better with a bit of sunlight!
PS. I have got lost up there many a time and stumbled across some deer. We also went up there to scatter my friend’s ashes a few years back…couldn’t find the same spot again if I had to though!
Yes, the Immutable Law of Archaeological Progress: 19C antiquarians: clearly a military structure 20C archaeologists: served a ritual function 21C arcaheologists: used for occasional feasting.
Great video - should I say programme? Two things crossed my mind - you could see Ingleborough and presumably its hill fort from Warton Crag (I know you can see it from across the estuary at Grange over Sands) - plus plenty of sites for the amateur RU-vid antiquarian across the bay on the Cartmel and Furness peninsulas. Go a bit further and new ones are coming out of the woodwork and only recently identified.
Thanks. I really enjoyed making this and I plan to go back in the winter to take another look. I love the view of Ingleborough from this fort and you have to wonder what relations were like….
Hi David, we believe so, but the problem is that there is no written record from the time. A large part of what we know about the Iron Age tribes comes from the Roman records following their conquest of Britain. This site is within the tribal territory of the Brigantes - the largest tribe in the UK. The old school antiquarians believed that the tribe up on the hillfort held against the Romans, but there is no archaeological evidence for that. The Brigantes became a client state of Roman Britain. Interesting that they now think this site goes back further into the Bronze Age now, though.
Probably between 30 and 50 minutes. You need an elf to assist. Great views from there, I guess it would be favourite perch too. I've seen many a trig point but I've never seen a warning beacon before. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Yes, it’s beautiful up there - glad that’s come across in the video. That point up on the summit is actually called “Beacon Breast” - so I think it’s had that use for a long time!
Looks like a good walk, shame you cannot see the fort! On another note, there is maybe a slightly easier site you might like to investigate... There is a standing stone now called kitchen hill stone that was only recently(ish) rediscovered. It is north of Penrith between the railway line and the motorway! I was recently looking into it and found an antiquarian report that there were once three in a line. I think there are still two as I was able to find both on google earth. As far as I know the second one is still unaccounted for officially. I found a photo of it on the Modern Antiquarian website though. The kitchen hill stone is actually a whopper! Maybe the tallest or at least largest of the cumbrian standing stones. It is similiar to the stone in the industrial complex on the other side of the m6 from mayburgh henge... Maybe you can find the missing third stone for me!
Thanks Sam! I stumbled on something about the Kitchen Hill stone recently. Very visible from the railway line, I think, but on private land. I love that area - it was very active in prehistoric times. I will put your suggestion on my “ideas” list!
Warton Crag looks nice. You’re not going to preserve it by crashing F-18 aircraft into it though! Thanks for the mention, I do need to come North with you for Hills and Hillforts! I wonder how different this place would be under NT stewardship?
Cheers Hedley! Sorry I didn’t wait for you, I just needed to do something local this week! It is a great place, but difficult to see anything of the actual fort - you’d definitely get a hill out of it! I’m pretty sure they did cut back the undergrowth a few years back, but today, it’s worse than ever. National Trust might well do a better job. Clear it back and graze it.
The battle was over at that point, they couldn't turn about , and they were being forced to go north around Scotland to get back home. Things weren't going well.
@@JimBagby74 now you’ve said that, I do recall something about their unexpected detour around Scotland. I think the beacon up there now, dates back to 1988 - the 400th anniversary. But it’s been known as “Beacon Breast” for centuries.
Ran out of postcards so I'll post my guess here...I'd say the filming of the ascent took about 90 minutes. What do I win? 😂 Nice to see you making good use of the +1k subscriber YT special effects dept. 🦖
Not a bad guess! It just takes forever sometimes, but I do enjoy deconstructing the process. Which obviously makes it take even longer! I enjoyed unlocking the special effects budget too! Thank you!
I think that you ought to pay a visit to Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales. To the north west there's the remains of two abandoned medieval villages. Then there's Grass Wood. In there exists official signposts for an Ancient Scheduled Monument by the Department of Works. It's the site of a hill fort. For some reason, modern OS Maps make no mention of it. Older versions did. I assume it's too keep the scavengers away. 😊❤😊
That's interesting. I do have it on my list as there are some Romano British field systems there. You highlight a problem with the modern OS map editions - they are steadily removing ancient monuments that have been on the maps since the 1800s. There has been no official statement as to why, but it's something that antiquarians and historians have noted and are very worried about. Likewise, with all the corrections to the Roman road network arising from LiDAR over the last decade or so, the OS maps are not being updated. So you can never rely on the accuracy of those dotted Roman road lines. In my darker moments I see this as part of a wider malaise in Britain today, where our ancient heritage is devalued. Anyhow, thanks for the suggestion, I will check it out and take a look at the old edition OS maps. Really appreciate suggestions like this.
@WC21UKProductionsLtd You're very welcome. Equally, I really appreciate the fact that you give decent replies instead of a monosyllabic response. Another favourite to visit is called John o' Gaunts Castle above Beaver Dyke Reservoir. It's supposedly the remains of a medieval hunting lodge. It's a pleasant walk from the Sun Inn on the B6451 Otley to Pateley Bridge Road. There's an outer ring with a stone arched entrance with a collapsed central section. I seem to remember the remains of a fireplace. Admittedly I'm now 56 and its been a few years since I visited the place. The memory isn't quite as sharp.
That’s no problem - I really enjoy the engagement on the channel and videos have come out of it, that I wouldn’t have thought of. I imagine it gets harder when a channel has tens of thousands of subscribers. I probably won’t have to worry about that, but you never know!
Never mind the National Truss, a Flotilla of Goats would have that undergrowth undercontrol in next to no time. (#NotaGoatExpert). As for it being Summer, a friend who lives nearby (to said crags) assures me that the local micro-climate doesn’t really include a “Summer” as the rest of the UK might recognise it. A chap on Instagram, who does some good HillFortery, uses the phrase “ploughed out” with unsettling regularity. Jolly god. Carry on.
Cheers Barry. That comment about us not “doing” summer up here IS strictly true - I just don’t like to draw attention to it! I don’t even work for Visit Britain. “Ploughed out” is less of a problem here, but it’s devastating down south. Having said that, they do plough and seed pasture now. I’ve seen a Roman road agger near to me disappear over recent years. It makes my work all the more imperative!
Jolly good. I used to live near there in the 1970's then moved across the Bay to Ulverston in the 1980's. Seen it loads of times..from the car on the M6😁 everytime I go to visit my folks in summer and at christmas. Never been up it. Leave that to you😛. I never knew it had a Plasticine Fairy Hole.... I bet it took about an hour to film the climbing bit...This is why I hardly vlog anymore (on my other channels)😂
Thank you - worth a climb when you’re next in the area! Part of the problem with the first attempt was that I couldn’t be bothered to to film all the B-Roll stuff in the harsh conditions. YouTubing certainly makes you appreciate a “normal” walk, doesn’t it?!
The problem I see with this site as a defensive settlement would be water: Where would they access it, or where could they keep it? It seems a heck of a long way to get anything to drink up there. What a wonderful video, it must take HOURS to video those walking pieces. You need a silent and invisible cameraman to follow you!
Thanks Jane! I think you’ve hit the nail on the head as to why they increasingly think these hillforts were not permanently settled. They would have needed a lot of rain butts! It does take a long time to film those segments - climbing up to position the camera - then back down to re climb. I often use 2 cameras for those bits too - so that only adds to it!
There's an airfield/airport and soon to be (?) a giga factory on my local hill fort. Lost and never dug by archaeologists due to the war effort. Can't have beardy wierdy men in ditches getting in the way of defending the realm
@@WC21UKProductionsLtd I first became suspiscious when apparently the tiny roman Lunt fort is on the side of a hill. Baginton is the highest point for miles. The rivers Sowe, Sherbourne and Avon surround it
That’s tragic to hear, but it sounds like the destruction took place a long while back. It shouldn’t, but that always makes me feel a bit better about it.
I had a few technical issues last night..At first I thought you were deleting banter as it kept saying ''Error code ect'' then all my comments vanished 🤣. I decided you'd never do such a thing, so being the dinosaur I am regarding tech' I decided I'd either need to bang on the computer and give it a damn good thrashing ...or take my wife's saner advice and unsubscribe, then-re subscribe. That has obviously worked.. voila .. but what I found may interest you is this sir. For a long time now, at least two, more normally three of your vids would appear as top of my RU-vid preferences.. for the last five weeks not even your latest vid has appeared, no matter how far down the list I scanned. Frankly it's only because I know the time you normally release a vid that I could even find the latest vid. Anyhoo, to point...after unsubscribing/ re-subscribing, your gold medalist crown was restored...Not only did the little forts appear top line of my opening RU-vid page, Liverpool stones as well as this one were showing too.
@@philcollinson328 thanks for sharing that insight. I do think RU-vid buggers around quite a lot. I’ve had channels that I subscribe to seemingly disappear from my feed. I suspect they have legacy tech issues. Probably still using stuff from when they started 2 decades ago. In some regards I think the design on RU-vid still shows its 2,000s roots.
@@WC21UKProductionsLtd That makes perfect sense. (Conspiracy theory alert) Either that or RU-vid simply ignores folks who are long term followers of a channel and hope to deflect their interests to new things...Not happening here! ...I've been following your wonderful exploits from the days where 30 views would have made you grin...to under 10,000 makes you grimace a tad. Your hard work and great success growing your channel so quickly recently is richly deserved.
