Gog Magog Downs
Encyclopedia
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
hills, extending for several miles to the southeast of Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The highest points are marked on Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
1:25000 maps as "Telegraph Clump"Telegraph Clump, 52°09′44.02"N 000°11′12.04"E at 75 m (246.1 ft), Little Trees Hill
Little Trees Hill
Little Trees Hill is the highest point of the Gog Magog Downs, a ridge of low chalk hills extending for several miles to the south-east of Cambridge in England. Unusually for a Cambridgeshire hill, its summit is reachable by a public footpath. A footpath runs from the Magog Down car park on...
Little Trees Hill, 52°09′15.59"N 000°10′25.07"E and Wandlebury Hill
Wandlebury Hill
Wandlebury Hill is a hill in the Gog Magog Downs, a ridge of low chalk hills extending for several miles to the southeast of Cambridge, England. The underlying rock is present in a number of places on the hill...
,Wandlebury Hill, 52°09′28.04"N 000°11′00.72"E both at 74 m (242.8 ft). The area is undefined but is roughly the elevated area lying north west of the 41 m (134.5 ft) col
Mountain pass
A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...
at Worsted Lodge.Worsted Lodge, 52°08′39.31"N 000°14′02.52"E
Unlike the nearby hills of the Newmarket Ridge
Newmarket Ridge
The Newmarket Ridge is a ridge of low chalk hills extending for over 20 miles, from Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, passing through the south-eastern corner of Cambridgeshire....
, which have steep sides but very flat tops, these hills have large drops between summits and as such have quite a distinctive appearance; Little Trees Hill looks particularly good from Huckeridge Hill near Sawston
Sawston
Sawston is a large village in Cambridgeshire in England, situated on the River Cam seven miles south of Cambridge. It has a population of 7,150...
. The hills therefore have relatively high topographic prominence
Topographic prominence
In topography, prominence, also known as autonomous height, relative height, shoulder drop , or prime factor , categorizes the height of the mountain's or hill's summit by the elevation between it and the lowest contour line encircling it and no higher summit...
.
Other tops include: Limepit Hill 56 m (183.7 ft)Limepit Hill, 52°10′24.89"N 000°12′17.23"E — Mag's HillMag's Hill, 52°09′55.88"N 000°12′10.53"E — Copley HillCopley Hill, 52°09′20"N 000°12′24.55"E — Meggs HillMeggs Hill, 52°08′56.96"N 000°12′44.46"E — Fox HillFox Hill, 52°09′22.83"N 000°09′52.04"E4 — Clarke's HillClarke's Hill, 52°09′33.31"N 000°09′10.43"E — White HillWhite Hill, 52°09′46.82"N 000°08′39.5"E
History
The earliest mention of the biblical name Gog and MagogGog and Magog
Gog and Magog are names that appear primarily in various Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptures, as well as numerous subsequent references in other works. Their context can be either genealogical or eschatological and apocalyptic, as in Ezekiel and Revelation...
for this region is found in a decree of 1574, forbidding students to visit the Gog Magog Hills on pain of a fine. Random excavations around the hills revealed the remains of defences at Copley Hill and Cherry Hinton
Cherry Hinton
Cherry Hinton is a suburban area of the city of Cambridge, in Cambridgeshire, England. It is around southeast of Cambridge city centre.-History:...
, not older than the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
but the sites themselves are now known already to have been occupied in the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
. The better-preserved hill fort
Hill fort
A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...
known as the Wandlebury Ring, which is now situated in a public park, had several concentric ditches and earthen walls, which were kept in place by wooden palisade
Palisade
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...
s. It was already inhabited in the Bronze Age and archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
findings include bronze and iron objects and pottery, including "Knobbed Ware", dating from the Bronze Age.
"Telegraph clump" functioned as one of the locations for the semaphore line, an optical telegraph system, between London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
from around the 1820s to around 1850.
The dowser
Dowsing
Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, gravesites, and many other objects and materials, as well as so-called currents of earth radiation , without the use of scientific apparatus...
and archaeologist Thomas Charles Lethbridge
Thomas Charles Lethbridge
Thomas Charles Lethbridge was a British explorer, archaeologist and parapsychologist. According to the historian Ronald Hutton, Lethbridge's "status as a scholar never really rose above that of an unusually lively local antiquary" for he had a "contempt for professionalism in all fields" and...
claimed to have found some ancient hill figure
Hill figure
A hill figure is a large visual representation created by cutting into a steep hillside and revealing the underlying geology. It is a type of geoglyph usually designed to be seen from afar rather than above. In some cases trenches are dug and rubble made from material brighter than the natural...
s buried in the chalk under the surface of the hills. These purported to represent a sun-god
Solar deity
A solar deity is a sky deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms...
, a moon-goddess
Lunar deity
In mythology, a lunar deity is a god or goddess associated with or symbolizing the moon. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related to or an enemy of the solar deity. Even though they may be related, they are distinct from the...
and a warrior-god. Lethbridge's claims, however, were controversial and are not widely accepted.
In 1989 the Magog Trust, a charity and registered company created for the purpose bought 163.5 acre (66.2 ha) of the downs for £330,000 so it could be returned to chalk grassland and opened to the public.
However the bulk of the chalk downs have been converted to a golf course since 1901 by the Gog Magog Golf Club.
See also
- Army Manoeuvres of 1912Army Manoeuvres of 1912The Army Manoeuvres of 1912 was the last exercise of its kind conducted by the British army before the outbreak of the First World War. In the manoeuvres, Sir James Grierson decisively beat Douglas Haig, calling into question Haig's abilities as a field commander.J. E. B...
- Beechwoods nature reserveBeechwoods nature reserveThe Beechwoods nature reserve is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough. It is located between Cambridge and the Gog Magog Hills.- References :...
- Chalk Group
- East CambridgeshireEast CambridgeshireEast Cambridgeshire is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in Ely....
- Guildhall, London for the characters Gog and Magog. How their names came to be attached to these hills is unknown.