102 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 



Nodules of flint were occasionally found in the filling down 

 to 19ft. The chalk increased in moisture at the lower levels, 

 but even at the bottom it was not really wet. To test the 

 true bottom the solid chalk was cut away with a pick-axe 

 to a thickness exceeding Gins. 



Resting on the bottom of the well, thin ironwork (No. 386) 

 was found in a fragmentary condition. Some of this was 

 thin sheet iron bent over to double the thickness. Three 

 pieces resemble thin door-hinges in form ; three other 

 pieces are of stouter material ; these have rivet-holes at 

 more or less regular intervals, and some of the rivets still 

 remain, to man} 7 of which oak adheres. In some places 

 a coarse woven fabric is seen between the wood and iron. 

 These remains do not appear to have formed part of a 

 bucket. 



Conspicuous features in the structure of the well were the 

 steps, of footholds (Plate III., A.), which occurred in vertical 

 order on opposite faces, i.e., on the N.N.W. and S.S.E., 

 thirteen steps on each side. On the N.N.W. the lowest step 

 was 2'2ft., and the lowest step on the other side 3'2ft., from 

 the bottom of the well. The steps in both lines were at 

 somewhat irregular distances apart, but the average was 

 T55ft. ; their average size was Depth, Sins. ; height, 

 5ins. ; width, 9ins. 



The bottom was reached at a depth of 27ft. below the 

 surface, and 21 '85ft. below the solid chalk margin of the mouth 

 of the well. 



There can be little doubt that this well was sunk in the 

 troubled times of Charles I., when Maumbury was a Parlia- 

 mentarian fort. All the relics, with perhaps one exception, 

 appear to be of the XVII. Century. It is highly probable 

 that the Parliamentary forces, fearing the loss of their usual 

 water supply, decided to sink this well, and it would appear 

 that circumstances did not after all necessitate its com- 

 pletion. It is not likely that water was found at so high a 

 level, and no silt, or any other soft material, was found at the 

 bottom. 



