Wimble Toot
Burial mound or motte
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wimble Toot is a burial mound or, possibly, a motte built near the village of Babcary, Somerset, England. It is a scheduled ancient monument with a list entry number of 1015279.[1]
| Wimble Toot | |
|---|---|
| Babcary, Somerset | |
| |
| Site information | |
| Type | tumulus or motte |
| Location | |
| Shown within Somerset and the British Isles | |
  Wimble Toot Location within Somerset | |
| Coordinates | 51.0497°N 2.6291°W |
| Grid reference | grid reference ST560280 |
Etymology
Toot is derived from Old English tōt, meaning a lookout point.[2]
Details
Wimble Toot is generally interpreted as a typical bowl barrow dating to the Bronze Age,[1] between 2600 and 700 BC.[3] Today the site forms a circular earthwork, 27.47 metres (90.1 ft) across and 2.74 metres (9.0 ft) high, with a ditch on the north-west and south-east sides, on the top of a ridge, overlooking a brook which runs into the River Cary and the old Roman road of the Fosse Way.[4] The site is of an undetermined age, and appears to have been a part of the Romano-British landscape. In Roman times, Wimble Toot was situated at a crossroads.[2]
An alternative interpretation is that the monument is a possible motte built between 1067 and 1069.[5] According to this view, Wimble Toot was probably built by the Norman lord Robert of Mortain to protect the River Cary and the nearby settlement of Ilchester.[6]
Today the site is a scheduled monument.[7]
