Northmoor Trust

Walk around the Clumps

If one was to pick a site from which to survey the landscape of Oxfordshire, Wittenham Clumps makes for an ideal spot. Rising to some 400 feet above the relatively flat lands of the county and in a strategically commanding position, overlooking the River Thames, these two almost conical features have long been important to the inhabitants of this historical landscape.

For the best part of 300 years the two hilltops have been most recognisable by their beech crowns, this coronation giving them the honour of being the oldest known stands of planted hilltop Beeches in England.
Prior to this, Castle Hill (the most easterly of the two) was an Iron Age hill fort of considerable significance – the remaining evidence obscuring previous Bronze Age and Neolithic activity.
On the western slopes of Round Hill, a short distance west from Castle Hill, the Romans have bequeathed us traces of a villa.

There is a great deal more history to note here and we will pick up on some of it as we take our walk around the site, while exploring its natural history. Download Walk PDF