There were signs of life up on Brack Mound yesterday morning when a man in a hard hat appeared on the summit with a strimmer. Regular readers will know that this ancient man-made fortification and probable burial mound is the view out of my study window here in Lewes in Southern England.
The site is owned by the venerable Sussex Archaeological Society, a neighbour I suppose you could say. This year I missed the annual show when two men harness themselves together and cut the precipitous hill sides down to the ground ready for it to regrow again in time for Spring.
So the mound has become a wild and lively place with more birds than usual and no doubt hordes of small furry things which are part of the staple diet of our neighbourhood’s cats. I often watch my feline friends prowling viciously through the undergrowth. Brack Mound also encourages bees, butterflies and a wide variety of beetles and spiders too. It has been a privilege to be able to live so closely to Nature here right in the middle of town.
I don’t know if this sighting is an early sign that the Society is going to cut the mound or not this year. Maybe, as he only cut the top, there is going to be a dig. It would be wonderful if they could find some grisly remains up there or maybe more evidence of what really went on up there well over a thousand years ago. On a grey November day it is not difficult to imagine sinister goings on in olden days – there was even something quite macabre about that man up there working in splendid isolation.
He might return today so I shall keep you posted with the latest exciting drama from these parts.