ing0. 



By Dr. WAKE SMART, M.R.C.P., &c. 



ADBURY Rings, though not standing on ground 

 remarkable for its elevation, rises above most of 

 the other hills near it, with a gradual ascent of 

 about two miles from the Stour at Shapwick. Its 

 altitude may not be above 400 feet ; but this is 

 sufficient to give an extensive and beautiful 

 prospect on all sides, including the Isle of Wight and the Purbeck 

 range of, hills, with the Bulbarrow range and the Wiltshire hills 

 and downs. From Old Sarum, which, in some measure, resembles 

 Badbury, the Romans carried a military road, straight, as the 

 natural obstacles would permit, from thence to Dorchester ; in its 

 course it passed very near the West side of the ramparts of 

 Badbury, thence onward across the Stour in a direct line to its 

 point at Dorchester. It is not necessary to say more than that the 

 popular name it bears is Ackling Dyke. On the East side of the 

 ramparts lies a second Roman road, and the position of Badbury is 

 noteworthy, standing in the interspace of the intersection of these 

 two roads; the Via Iceniana, or Ackling Dyke, coming from 

 Sorbiodunum (N.) to Durnovaria (S.W.), and the other road, 

 which comes from Morionio (Ham worthy) (Note 1), on Poole Bay 



NOTE I. Ancient Dorset, p. 180. 



