army or farm buildings at Figsbury Rings in 1920s? | Forum

Moonraker Oct 19, 2006 05:45:16

I've been looking at a 1927 6-in map of the Figsbury Rings locality and noted a cluster of buildings right up against the north eastern edge of the earthworks; they look a bit too regimented to be farm buildings, and I'm guessing that they were erected by the army during or just after the Great War. Certainly the Rings were very close to the military experimental grounds for trench warfare. It's remarkable that even with the requirements of wartime such buildings were built so close to what was obviously a site of archaeological importance. But then in 1917 an airfield was built a few hundred yards from Stonehenge and its buildings marred the famous skyline (as seen coming from Amesbury) for another 13 years!

Moonraker

rocknicker Oct 19, 2006 06:59:21

Replying to Moonraker

I know it's a slightly different era, but maybe it's worth cotacting the owner of this site http://www.pillboxesuk.co.uk/ ?

moss Oct 19, 2006 06:59:58

Replying to Moonraker

Not really answering your question but I have a book called "Neolithic Dew-ponds and CattleWays" 1907, which shows dewponds at several hill forts in this area, though not Figsbury, the Cissbury and Maiden Castle dewponds are particularly good.
As a book its completely up the creek, but it does show that we should'nt interpret stones, dips in the ground, always from an earlier period.
He has wolf platforms guarding the settlement up on Martinsell Hill, Oare, he thinks they are to guard against wolves attacking the fort, but I'd rather see a pair of wolves sitting quietly on their platforms surveying the Wiltshire scene.

Dewponds on chalk; puddled clay, beaten down to form an impermeable layer in which (I don't know) the early morning dew condensed to form ponds - found on the Wiltshire downs....