Windsbatch

Also known as:
Monument No. 452031
Nearest town:
Chickerell (5km SSW)
OS reference:
SY657850
OS sheet:
194
Latitude:
50° 39' 46.97 N
Longitude:
2° 29' 7.28 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Windsbatch (Dyke) by formicaant

The bank of the dyke from the main road from Dorchester to Weymouth, looking west.

Image credit: Mike Rowland 07/03/11
formicaant
formicaant Mar 8, 2011
Image of Windsbatch (Dyke) by formicaant

The bank of the cross dyke as seen from my back garden, looking north.

Image credit: Mike Rowland 30/08/10
formicaant
formicaant Aug 30, 2010
Image of Windsbatch (Dyke) by formicaant

The cross dyke on Windsbatch hill from Gould’s hill, looking south.

Image credit: Mike Rowland 03/06/10
formicaant
formicaant Jun 6, 2010

Articles

Windsbatch

formicaant
formicaant Jun 6, 2010

A cross ridge dyke on Windsbatch hill, just south of the South Dorset Ridgeway. This ditch and bank can be seen from the Gould’s Hill and Ridge Hill barrows which are to the north of it. It can be accessed via the Jubilee trail and is close to the village of Upwey.

Folklore

Windsbatch
Dyke
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Jan 17, 2025

A steep path leads down from Windsbatch to some springs (and a church) at the foot of the hill. I expect the “person with glasses” charged for their use, but that is not to take away from the ambience of the spot, I am sure.

Holy Wells.
I see in the April Antiquary that Mr Hope does not mention a spring or well at Upwey, a few miles from Weymouth – it is a wishing well. There is always a person near with glasses from which to drink the waters, wish, and throw the remainder over the shoulder. It is really the source of the Wey, a fine spring of clear water coming out of the ground, and flows on until it becomes the river at Weymouth. There is a church a few yards higher up.
George Bailey, Derby.

From ‘The Antiquary’ v21 (1890).

Miscellaneous

Windsbatch
Dyke
Chance
Chance May 28, 2014

Details of Cross Dyke on Pastscape

(Centred at SY 65728506) Cross Dyke (NR) (1) Cross Ridge Dyke on Windsbatch (SY 68 NE; 65748504 to 65778517), a bank 30 ft. across and some 8 ft. above a W. ditch 30 ft. wide, is bowed slightly E. and virtually cuts off the E. end of the limestone ridge. Its S. end is on the 300 ft. contour, at the edge of a very steep slope (an apparent continuation downhill is a small boundary bank of later date built in the ditch and continuing its line); 240 ft. to the N. is a gap, probably original, 16 ft. across. A less clear length of bank running for some 90 ft. N. of this gap ends a little way down the rounded shoulder of the hill where there is much old quarry disturbance. The N. slope is only notably steep E. of the dyke, which is therefore defensive in situation as well as size. There are slight banks and scarps in the 8 acres of ridge top to the E. but the area is very disturbed. (3) In the ditch along the ridge top are several ‘Standing Stones” up to 0.7m high and in line.
The cross ridge dyke is as described by RCHM (2). The seven stones standing above ground in the ditch are possibly part of the modern boundary aspect of the complex.

Sites within 20km of Windsbatch