ANCIENT EARTHWORKS OF CRANBORNE CHASE. 39 



NOTES DESCRIPTIVE OF THE FOREGOING PLANS. 



(Respecting the plan conventions. The shading Unes that indicate 

 earthwork banks show the top of the bank by the thick end of the hne, 

 the bottom by the thin end. Dotted spaces indicate the bottoms of 

 ditches and depressions. Numbers and contour Unes indicate the 

 height of the land above the sea.) 



1. Badbury Rings — Of the five principal Hill-top camps within the 

 district of my survey — Hod, Hambledon, Castle Ditches, Tisbury, 

 Whitsbury Castle Ditches, and Badbury Rings — the last stands lowest 

 above the sea ; yet Badbury Rings are so isolated, and are situated in 

 such a spacious tract of lowland, that their pine-crowned summit of 

 327 feet tells as a landmark for miles around — a distinction that Castle 

 Ditches, Tisbury, miss, though this latter camp area rises to 630 feet — 

 7 feet higher than Hambledon. 



Badbury Rings may serve as a fine specimen of a Hill-top Camp. 

 They have been described in the Dorset Field Club Proceedings, 

 Vol. XXVII., and in " Ancient Dorset," by Charles Warne. So far as 

 I know, their varied occupation has not been proved by excavation, 

 but their origin is generally accepted as Celtic. They are surrounded 

 by a triple ring of great banks and ditches. There is a wide space 

 between the outer and middle earthworks. The Eastern entrance is a 

 straight-forward passage through the three lines of defence. There 

 are two entrances on the Western side. One, like the Eastern, straight- 

 forward, the other winding through the berm defence of the middle 

 bank. It seems possible, in view of Mr. and Mrs. Cunnington's 

 excavations on Knapp Hill, that the straight-forward Western entrance 

 may be original, used for driving cattle in times of danger, and the 

 entrance gaps then stockaded. The earthworks of the Rings do not 

 show any signs of Roman adaptation, though the site must have been 

 occupied by the Romans, for three of their roads converge here. 

 Probably this was the site of " Mens Badonicus," see " Origines 

 CeUicce," Vol. II., p. 147, by Dr. Guest. The wasted earthwork 

 outside the Rings on the Western side do not seem to have any 

 intelligible connection with the camp defences. 



2. Buzbury Rings are about two miles distant from Blandford and 

 the Upland road, thence to Wimborne, passes through the outer part 

 of the camp. The inner camp appears to have been the place of 

 habitation, and here you may pick up in half an hour more pottery 

 shards than your pockets will hold. The outer camp extends on the 

 Northern and Eastern sides of this inner camp, and shows no sign of 

 habitation, but was probably used for pastoral purposes. Buzbury 

 Rings have been cut about by road-makers and by cultivators, but their 

 general disposition are still fairly discernible. The camp shows no signs 



