Solsbury Hill
| Solsbury Hill | |
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Panoramic view on top of the hill
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| Location | Batheaston in Somerset, England |
| Coordinates | 51°24′36″N 2°20′03″W / 51.41000°N 2.33417°WCoordinates: 51°24′36″N 2°20′03″W / 51.41000°N 2.33417°W |
| Built | Iron Age |
| Reference no. | 203323 |
 Location of Solsbury Hill in Somerset
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Little Solsbury Hill (more commonly known as Solsbury Hill) is a small flat-topped hill and the site of an Iron Age hill fort. It is located above the village of Batheaston in Somerset, England. The hill rises to 625 feet (191 m) above the River Avon, which is just over 1 mile (2 km) to the south, and gives views of the city of Bath and the surrounding area. It is within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The hill is one of several possible locations of the Battle of Badon and shows the remains of a medieval field system. In the 19th century part of the hill was quarried. It was acquired by the National Trust in 1930. The hill was the inspiration of the Peter Gabriel song "Solsbury Hill" which was recorded in 1977. A small turf maze was cut into the turf by protesters during the widening of the A46 in 1994.
It is sometimes misspelled as Salisbury, or Solisbury, perhaps because of confusion with Salisbury Plain (a plateau in southern England), or the city of Salisbury. Salisbury and Solsbury can be difficult to distinguish in speech, as Salisbury is often pronounced "Saulsbury" and sometimes the "a" in "Salisbury" is pronounced as an "o", and the "i" is elided, making the pronunciations of the two words practically identical. The name, "Solsbury", may be derived from the Celtic god Sulis, a deity worshipped at the thermal spring in nearby Bath.
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Wikipedia