The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Ringsbury

Hillfort

Folklore

Ringsbury Camp sits on an outcrop of coral rag and has views over the clay plain south towards the Marlborough Downs.

Although the earthworks are from the Iron Age - it's described as a small multivallate hillfort in the scheduled monuments description - neolithic flints have also been found there. Also discovered has been an uninscribed gold coin depicting a disjointed horse and a wheel, probably from the Iron Age. It's thought that the ditches and banks of such hillforts were for showing off your high status as much as for defence, and that the site would have been lived in pretty much full time.


Locally it is said that the camp is 'as old as Stonehenge or Avebury'. The red spotted flints and pebbles which can be found there are splashed with the blood of the Saxons and Danes who fought nearby.

(folklore from 'More Ghosts and Legends of the Wiltshire Countryside' by K Wiltshire: collected from Mr G Harris of Purton in 1975)
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
6th November 2003ce
Edited 6th November 2003ce

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