32 ANCIENT EARTHWORKS OF CRANBORNE CHASE. 



of the counties, and in writing of Dorset he mentions 

 Maumbury, Poundbury, Maiden Castle, and Badbury but 

 that is all. Evidently they were held in small estimation by 

 our ancestors, a neglect that increases the debt of gratitude 

 that we owe to Dr. Stukeley, whose " Itinerarium Curiosum " 

 (published in 1724) was the first contribution to a study of 

 these priceless relics of our history by means of plans. 



When maps were few, and surveys scant, how exciting 

 must have been the search for Ancient Earthworks ! Imagine 

 a description of Dorset as Speed describes it with never a 

 word about the camps on Hambledon Hill, or on Hod Hill, 

 and with no mention of Bokerly Dyke ! And then think of 

 riding afield as a roving enquirer, and coming upon these 

 forgotten earthworks that express such indomitable energy, 

 and that confront us with such great problems of prehistoric 

 life. This was the happy fortune of the antiquary in the 

 18th Century. What Dr. Stukeley began, Sir Richard Colt 

 Hoare continued. In the early years of the 19th Century he 

 gave up hunting foxes in favour of hunting earthworks, and 

 the ardour of his new chase led him across the borders of his 

 native Wiltshire into Dorset and the district of our survey. 

 His folio volumes on " Ancient Wiltshire " contain most 

 beautifully engraved plans of several of the earthworks on 

 Cranborne Chase ; but their accuracy is not equal to their 

 execution. Mr. Charles Warne's " Illustrated Map of Dorset- 

 shire " also includes some of these earthworks, but this 

 admirable map only locates sites ; it is on too small a scale 

 to give any details of plan. In " Ancient Dorset," by the 

 same author, there are a few wood-cuts of camp plans that 

 are scarcely worthy of their purpose. The most accurate 

 plans of Earthworks on Cranborne Chase are to be found in 

 General Pitt Rivers' works ; but they only include the sites 

 of his excavations. Accordingly, if we wish to study plans 

 of the various earthworks in this district, we must obtain 

 about 40 6-inch Ordnance Survey sheets whereon they are 

 recorded. The Ordnance Survey is a most admirable and 

 exact work, from its own point of view, but it is not the 



