40 ANCIENT EARTHWORKS OF CRANBORNE CHASE, 



of having been strengthened, and its broad-topped low banks (six foot 

 average height) and shallow ditches give us an idea of an Early British 

 Tribal camp that combined safety with pastoral requirements. Many 

 of the pottery shards to be found in the inner area are of the Early 

 British type, hand-made, imperfectly baked, and made of clay mixed 

 with siliceous granules. Banks and ditches of the Grims-Ditch type 

 branch out from Buzbury Rings. The O.S. marks one that approaches 

 the Rings from Langton Long as " suj^posed British Trackway ; " but 

 its superficial measurements compare with Grims-Ditch, through which 

 I have cut sections on Damerham Knoll and on Gallows Hill, and in 

 both these cases the bottom of the ditch was 4 feet 6 inches below the 

 surface and only a foot wide, with steep sides, showing no signs of use ; 

 indeed, it would be impossible to use such a ditch as a way. These 

 Banks and Ditches appear to be boundary divisions for pastoral 

 purposes. Similar branching of such earthworks from a centre of 

 habitation may be noted on Blandford Race Down, South Tarrant 

 Hinton Down, Gussage Down, Middle Chase Farm, and Whitsbury 

 Castle Ditches. 



3. The British Settlement on South Tarrant Hinton Down is 

 specially interesting. Here are two oval enclosures, surrounded by 

 low earthworks — the outside banks never rise above 4 feet — that are 

 separated from each other by a shallow down valley in which jDre- 

 sumably the water came out when these enclosures were made. 



The upper enclosure shows no superficial signs of ancient habitation, 

 but there is a sunken way leading down to the little valley that suggests 

 cattle usage. It should be noted that outside the entrance on the 

 Eastern side are the wasted remains of two detached banks that appear 

 to be defences covering the opening, and that the Northern enclosure 

 bank (the Southern has been destroyed) widens into a pear shape at 

 the entrance — a form that often occurs at camp entrances. The 

 all-over measurements of the bank and ditch show, however, that this 

 can never have been a camp of much account, and I am inclined to 

 regard it as a pastoral enclosure with slight defences. 



The lower enclosure is the larger of the two, and the area is covered 

 with humps and hollows that suggest habitation. The entrance is on 

 the South-Eastern side. On the North-Eastern side there is a semi- 

 circular depression strongly banked, and approached from the area by 

 a sunken way. This compares with somewhat sinailar earthwork 

 forms on Tarrant Hinton Down (near Eastbury Park), Chettle Down, 

 and Swallow-Cliffe Down. Their purpose could only be conjectured 

 by excavation. Two large mounds may be barrows. The duplication 

 of the single bank and ditch — which for the most part surround their 

 enclosure — on the South-Western and lowest side of the site is another 

 puzzle that needs solution. A ditch between dovible banks (of the 



