We remember passing a day pleasantly enough in tracing one of the last-mentioned relics of olden time, midway between Blandford and Dorchester, which the people to this day call Castle Rings. Our stay would not allow us much research; but we finished our excursion by starting from Milborne, on foot, across the fine expanse of Dorset, the bold ridges of Southampton, where the artificial luxury of a stage-coach put an end to all our enjoyment of romantic nature.
p203 of 'The Mirror of Literature Amusement' by John Limbird (1830).
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.
Weatherby Castle as it is called locally, has an obelisk at its summit ( 101m above sea level ), It is very well hidden, on top of a hill near Milbourne St Andrew. The area was originally a hill fort as can be seen by the ditches that still surround the summit.
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