Woolsbarrow Hillfort View all content for Woolsbarrow

Details of Woolsbarrow on Pastscape Woolsbarrow (SY 893925) on Bloxworth Heath and now in a State Forest midway between the Sherford River and a tributary of the Piddle, is the smallest hill-fort in South-east Dorset. Its anomalous form makes its date uncertain. A single bank with inner ditch surrounds a gravel knoll some 20ft below its flat top, enclosing an area of some 2 1/4 acres. Though the highest point is only 220ft above Ordnance Datum it dominates the surrounding heathland, which falls sharply on all sides except on the SE, where a simple gap entrance leads to a natural saddle connecting the hilltop with a lower spur. The whole site has been much disturbed. Most of the interior has been quarried away to the depth of some feet, exposing a well-formed podsol, but there is no evidence that a bank ever stood on the edge of the inner scarp. The mounds in the SW and NE angles are probably no more than the residue of quarrying; the NE mound was dug by a Mr Groves of Wareham without result (Warne, Ancient Dorset (1872), 87). Soil slip has largely filled the ditch and the bank, at its most prominent, is about 18ft across and only 2 1/2ft above the ditch bottom. A modern trackway obscures the original form of the entrance. The `tumuli' shown on some maps around the site are probably natural, the result of differential erosion. (Centred SY 893925) Woolsbarrow (Camp) (NR) (SY 89389258) Tumulus (NR) (SY 891925; SY 892924) Tumuli (NR) (twice) (1) Woolsbarrow (SY 893925) on Bloxworth Heath and now in a State Forest midway between the Sherford River and a tributary of the Piddle, is the smallest hill-fort in South-east Dorset. Its anomalous form makes its date uncertain. A single bank with inner ditch surrounds a gravel knoll some 20ft below its flat top, enclosing an area of some 2 1/4 acres. Though the highest point is only 220ft above Ordnance Datum it dominates the surrounding heathland, which falls sharply on all sides except on the SE, where a simple gap entrance leads to a natural saddle connecting the hilltop with a lower spur. The whole site has been much disturbed. Most of the interior has been quarried away to the depth of some feet, exposing a well-formed podsol, but there is no evidence that a bank ever stood on the edge of the inner scarp. The mounds in the SW and NE angles are probably no more than the residue of quarrying; the NE mound was dug by a Mr Groves of Wareham without result (Warne, Ancient Dorset (1872), 87). Soil slip has largely filled the ditch and the bank, at its most prominent, is about 18ft across and only 2 1/2ft above the ditch bottom. A modern trackway obscures the original form of the entrance. The `tumuli' shown on some maps around the site are probably natural, the result of differential erosion. (2) "SY 894926 Woolsbarrow camp ramparts. Scheduled". (3) (SY89319254) Woolsbarrow (NAT) Earthwork (NR) (4) This hill-fort is now heavily covered by scrub and conifers. About 5.0 to 6.0 metres below the plateau top to the hillside has been scarped to form a ditch up to 2.0 metres wide, with a counterscarp bank 3.0 metres wide and 0.8 metres high. This survives around half of the perimeter, the remainder now appearing as a terrace. The `tumuli' shown on the O.S. 25" 1902 but omitted from the 1954 and subsequent editions, are natural gravel knolls of varying shapes and sizes. Revised at 1:2500 on M.S.D. (5)

Posted by Chance 23rd August 2015ce

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