Hero · Gerrards Cross
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Saxons on bull-back sent the Norman knights running.
Stand where it happened
Bulstrode Camp is a public open space owned by Gerrards Cross Town Council, off Camp Road; walk the double ramparts free at any time. Nothing on site tells the bull story.
These great earth banks are an Iron Age fort, but legend says Saxons once charged out from here riding bulls against the Normans.
Bulstrode Camp, the largest Iron Age hillfort in Buckinghamshire, lies near the old Bulstrode Park at Gerrards Cross. A family legend explains the name. After 1066 a Norman was granted the estate of a Saxon called Shobbington, who gathered his neighbours, the Hampdens and Penns among them, and threw up earthworks. One night his men rode out on tamed bulls and routed the Normans. William the Conqueror, impressed, sent for him, and Shobbington arrived riding a bull with his seven sons and was allowed to keep his land. The family took the name Bulstrode. Historians point out that surnames did not yet exist.
One sourceOnly one written account of this legend has been found so far.