 Previous 20 | Showing 41-53 of 53 miscellaneous posts. Most recent first
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I have just visited this hillfort for the umpteenth time and purely by luck managed to find a small piece of worked flint laying in the scatter from a mole hill. It is not of any great significance as it appears to be a bit of waste struck from a core , I will report it to the local museum as they like to know the distribution of these things.
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Three of five barrows on Duddle heath between Thorncombe woods and Puddletown forest. Their visibility depends on whether the forestry commission have been cutting down trees or not. At the moment they can be seen quite well, although photography isn't very good. Situated next to a dogleg in Ackling dyke, the roman road to Badbury rings, access is always possible via the pathways through the forest. Another way to get to this site is to park in Thorncombe woods car park and walk up the roman road, it is well defined and always free of trees as the foresters use it as a natural fire break. I'm not surprised Hardy mentions these barrows as he was born in Higher Bockhampton which is part of Thorncombe woods and about a 1/4 of a mile away from them.
There is one barrow in this set of five which can be seen very well at the moment as the horrible pine trees have been removed from it.
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More a secure area for animals and people, this is not a major defensive structure. It is very strongly believed to have originally been a neolithic causwayed enclosure, added to over a considerable period of time. Fairly elaborate structures dating from c.1000 b.c.e have been seen in a large geophysical survey of the site. The ancient track from Badbury rings was "romanised" and Buzbury was occupied during the roman period. It is now clipped on its northern edge by a modern road and is part of a golf course, it can be clearly seen from the road. I'm not sure about access, but will try and find out as I want to visit the site properly and not just look at it from my car window, hopefully more information will follow soon including some photos.
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With reference to Rhiannon's entry, this set of barrows are aligned west to east, at both ends are medium sized bell barrows. She is correct in that if you stand on one of these end barrows, the central bowl barrow blocks the view of the barrow at the other end. This may not have been the case originally as the bell barrow seems to have been heightened during excavation. In the western cluster there is a pair of barrows, one larger than the other, almost touching each other. The holes are curious, some are sink holes as marked on the o.s. map, but some look like they have been scooped out and the corresponding barrow is their mirror image, this could be a coincidence, but it is odd.
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Bul barrow or Bulbarrow as it is locally known sits atop a high ridge of hills in mid Dorset. While not overly impressive in itself, having the appearance of a bowl barrow, it must be one of the highest in Dorset. Nearby is Rawlsbury hillfort and parts of a WW2 radar station including a mast and huts which are now a sawmill. Thomas Hardy mentions it in Tess of the D'Uurbeville's and gives the alternative name Bealbury, but this could be his own invention.
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This is a major barrow cemetery on the south Dorset ridgeway, access is via the south west coast path, park at the nearby Blackdown or Hardy monument. This site is covered in barrows of various sizes, about 15 in all, although as it is part of an extended line of monuments many more can be seen from it. The isle of Portland, the Fleet and Chesil beach can be clearly seen from here, as can Maiden castle. Within a few miles of this site there is a rich variety of sites, stone circles, a cromlech, hillforts, long and bank barrows.
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A Roman signal station would make a lot of sense here as there is known to be one at nearby blackdown (roughly the Hardy monument) which can be plainly seen from here. The blackdown site is also known to be part of a chain of "beacons". Also the coastal placing of the hillfort would make a very good place to put an emergency signal station. There's no evidence for the hillforts themselves having been used in the Iron / bronze ages for sending signals to one another, but I can't see any reason why not.
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This barrow is also known locally as Culliford "clump". The depressions in the top of this are almost certainly signs of "amateur" archaeology in the past. There was however a rumour that an arms cache was buried here in 1940 in case of German invasion.
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This is a large round barrow on the north west edge of Mount Pleasant henge, said to have been added to the henge complex around 1800 bce. It is an impressive size, being not much smaller than the nearby Lanceborough barrow at Maiden castle. Like many local barrows it is now covered in trees , at least this protects it from the plough , sadly Mount Pleasant itself was not spared this fate.
I have included a nearby bowl barrow east of Conquer barrow and Mount Pleasant. This is on a hill overlooking both sites.
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Sorry about the wrong information about access in my fieldnotes , it appears you can walk on this site when the range walk is open but do check first as 120 mm tank rounds could easily spoil your day out.
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This is my favourite hillfort of the Durotriges in Dorset , probably because I grew up within a 100 yards of it and have been there hundreds of times . It was very nearly destroyed in the mid victorian era to make way for a railway to Bath , thank god common sense prevailed and the railway runs under it's northern end in a tunnel. Dr Stukeley included it his itinerarium curiesum and gave the alternative name of Pomery.
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This medium sized Durotrigian hillfort just looks like a large copse even from a few feet away.However once inside the entrance, it is a sophisticated multiple ditch and banked enclosure.It has a high a c.30ft. bank all the way around its centre, on its western edge there is a c.60ft. terrace with a low earth bank which drops steeply into the valley below.The folly is a magnficent piece of 18th. c. pointlessness,but as this fort is so heavily wooded it's impact is limited.
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This snake like ditch and bank marks the border of Durotrigian territory from that of their tribal neighbours the Belgae. It can be traced for c. 5 km. on O.S. Explorer 118. It can be followed on foot for most of its length. To the west of it can be seen a long barrow,about 50m. in length, this is itself only about 50m. south of the end of the Dorset Cursus. It is reckoned pre-Roman in origin, re-built and strengthened after the Romans left. There is what appears to be a very well preserved earthwork at right angles to it on the eastern side, don't be fooled it's a 20th century rifle range.
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Previous 20 | Showing 41-53 of 53 miscellaneous posts. Most recent first |
Always been interested in old stuff and making sure it stays in good nick.
I grew up within a hundred yards or so of Pounbury hillfort and within a mile of Maiden castle and have long wondered about the peoples who built these and the many other sites which proliferate in Dorset. My special interest is in the many barrows of all kinds in the area.
Have recently moved near to Weymouth and am lucky enough to be able to see barrows, a cross ridge dyke and an ancient trackway from my back garden.
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