Scouts get involved in hillfort preservation

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Members of the 1st Ashcombe Scouts Group have been helping volunteers to remove vegetation at the site of Worlebury Camp Iron Age hillfort.

The hillfort is a Scheduled Monument on the edge of Weston-super-Mare which was placed on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register due to threats from vegetation and trees to the nationally significant archaeology.

North Somerset Council has been working with volunteers in the Worlebury Hillfort Group since 2016 to reveal new areas of the hillfort by removing vegetation.

The scouts spent two sessions working with the group at the hillfort and were given a tour of the Scheduled Monument by the volunteers.

They previously worked with the volunteers in 2019 and the area they cleared then is now affectionately called ‘Scouts Glade’.

The scouts had a great time. Comments included “it's fun helping the environment and encouraging biodiversity” and “the hillfort is old and has most walls on a hillfort in England”.

The work they did at the hillfort will help them towards a variety of different badges including ‘World Challenge’, ‘Heritage’, ‘Environmental’ and ‘Team Work’.

William Fraher, of the Worlebury Hillfort Group, said: “It was great to see the scouts working so hard to improve biodiversity. They seemed very interested in the way the fort showed how people lived two-and-a-half thousand years ago.”

"It’s great to have young people involved helping our hard-working and dedicated volunteers," said Cllr Mike Solomon, North Somerset Council's executive member for neighbourhoods and community services. "Well done Ashcombe Scouts - you can be proud of yourselves."

For more information on Worlebury Camp hillfort visit www.n-somerset.gov.uk/hillfort or https://www.worleburyhillfortgroup.com/.