Pre History
Records indicate that there has been a settlement on this site since at least 780. Guiting is mentioned in the Doomsday Book and archaeological evidence suggest occupation goes right back to the Bronze Age. There are several Bronze Age Barrows in the area including one reconstruction in the middle of the old part of the Village.
A number of commercial excavations on farmland around the village have revealed significant Iron Age activity. Finds have included a Roman phallic figurine and the smallest Saxon sarcophagus ever found. The remains of a very early Saxo-Norman chapel were also found in the vicinity of the current church.
Why Guiting Power?
Guiting Power is based on its manor which belonged to King Edward (the Confessor) and was the seat of his sheriff Aldwyn. By the time of Doomsday it had declined and further declined when the then Lords, the lePohers, gave half the lands to the Cistercian Abbey of Bruern. It was from the lePohers that it got its name Power. Guiting comes from the Saxon getinge meaning rushing which presumably refers to the Windrush, then a considerable river.
The population of Guiting Power today is only a third of what it was in the 18th Century. Even at the start of the 20th Century, the village had 2 grocers, 2 tailors, a dressmaker, 2 shoemakers, a Post Office, 2 carpenters (one an undertaker!), a blacksmith, a Police Station and 2 Schools.
Sheep Hill Quarry Lime Kiln
The site around a restored, top loading, ‘Draw Kiln’ within the Sheep Hill Quarry is now safe for visitors to view.
The C18th-C19th lime kiln was restored in the late C20th under the direction of Raymond Cochrane. If consists of a high, thick, circular wall with a single doorway & an open roof. It was top loaded from the quarry edge with a mixture of 4 parts quarried limestone & 1 part wood and coal. Fired from a draw hole beneath, the limestone was burnt to release carbon dioxide to produce calcium oxide, commenly known as lime, this would have then been shovelled from beneath.
Lime was produced for use in building mortar, lime wash, daub and lime flooring. It was also applied to fields to raise the pH on permanent pastures & promote the release of trace elements important to plant & animal growth & production.
A further top loading lime kiln was located in a small quarry above the village at the top of Quarry Ground.
