BADBURY RINGS. 17 



(S.W.), crosses the Stour and the meadows two miles above 

 Wimborne, then through Kingston Lacy Park to the E. side of 

 Badbury, and thence to the N.W. border of our county at 

 Ashmore ; its ultimate destination being, in all probability, the N. 

 of Somerset and the Bristol Channel. It is not necessary to 

 follow these lines throughout (Note 1). 



Badbury Camp is an antiquarian puzzle. It is manifestly a 

 work of triple circumvallation, consisting of deep trenches and 

 ramparts. Its area is rather more than 18 acres. The entrench- 

 ments consist of three concentric ramparts flanked by corresponding 

 ditches. . . . The entrances are on the E. and W., the former 

 a simple approach through the several ramparts ; the entrance from 

 the "VV. through the middle agger is protected by additional 

 defences (Note 2). The circumference of the outer rampart is 

 1,738 yards, nearly one mile (Note 3). 



The question naturally arises, to what period and to what people 

 are we to attribute its construction 1 Is it the work of one people 

 and of one period only? Or, is it the work of two or three 

 separate races at three distinct periods of our national history 1 ? 

 These are questions not readily answered in the present state 

 of our knowledge. It cannot be done satisfactorily without a 

 systematic exploration of its three areas of defensive work, and 

 such as this has never yet been attempted. 



There cannot, I think, be a mistake made in assigning the 

 central area to the Kelts. Its circumvallation with a single 

 rampart and ditch carry us back to Caesar's description of the 

 British Oppidum, a place of refuge and protection of the surround- 

 ing tribes. The middle area with its rampart and ditch may be 

 either an addition to, or extension of, the original work at a later 

 date ; or, it may be the work of the Roman alone after his 



NOTE 1. Ancient Dorset, p. 34. 



NOTE 2. Warne's Ancient Dorset, p. 34. Hutchins' Hist. Dorset, 

 vol. ii., edit. 1. 



NOTE 3. Britton and Bray ley, 1805. "Topographical and Historical 

 Description of the County of Dorset," 



