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Woolsbarrow

Hillfort

<b>Woolsbarrow</b>Posted by juameiImage © juamei
Nearest Town:Bere Regis (6km WNW)
OS Ref (GB):   SY892925 / Sheet: 195
Latitude:50° 43' 53.07" N
Longitude:   2° 9' 10.96" W

Added by formicaant


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<b>Woolsbarrow</b>Posted by juamei <b>Woolsbarrow</b>Posted by formicaant <b>Woolsbarrow</b>Posted by formicaant <b>Woolsbarrow</b>Posted by formicaant <b>Woolsbarrow</b>Posted by formicaant <b>Woolsbarrow</b>Posted by formicaant <b>Woolsbarrow</b>Posted by formicaant

Fieldnotes

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[visited 16/8/14] In what is a mostly flat landscape as the land turns to heath as it meets the sea, I was surprised to see a couple of hillforts on the tma map. Looking to escape after a long week visiting family in Upton I headed over to this, the most complete and accessible of the two (compared to Bulberry Camp). Turns out there is a ridge of land to the North of Poole Harbour which when on the ground is plenty high enough to build forts on.

The interior of the fort is small, made smaller by the extreme amounts of gorse and bracken covering the site. A space/path is maintained which means you can get to the western edge, though a circumnavigation of the top isn't possible unless you want to fight your way through gorse bushes. I'd like to come back here in the winter to investigate further and also have a look at the hill immediately adjacent to the north which seemed to also have earthworks or at least modified to make the path to the North of this fort very well defended.

Access is easy along a well maintained network of paths from parking just off the Wareham to Bere Regis road. I did get confused and ended up circling the fort as I missed the easy path from the South which takes you straight up and in past the defences. Unlike most hillforts the gorse in August stops you going up and over the defences...
juamei Posted by juamei
27th August 2014ce
Edited 27th August 2014ce

This is one of the more unusual Durotrigian hillforts in that is built on a single hill in heathland. It is roughly oval in shape and has a low mound around its top edge and a ditch and bank about a third of the way down from the top. From its north eastern conrner the nearby Woodbury hillfort can be easily seen, to the south can be seen the high ridge of hills just inland from the coast. This entire site is covered in gorse and bracken which make its features a bit indistinct and difficult to photograph , however the last time I was here it was covered in 30 foot pine trees, as it is on forrestry commission land. It is built from a sandy soil which is full of flint, gravel and pebbles which must have made an excellent source of tool making materials and slingshot ammunition. formicaant Posted by formicaant
17th March 2007ce
Edited 18th October 2014ce

Miscellaneous

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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)
Chance Posted by Chance
23rd August 2015ce