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gUpori of dmral Rummer Excursions, 1913. 
Hod Hill and The first of the Summer General Excursions 
Shaftesbury. took place on Wednesday, May 14th. Motor 
vehicles were used for the first time, and were 
much appreciated. Leaving the Square soon after 9.30 a.m., the 
party had a delightful run in splendid weather along the Dorset 
roads through Blandford to Hod Hill. Dismounting at the foot 
of the fariious hill, the party made their way to the summit by 
the eastern approach, and crossed the ancient hill town to its 
N.W. side, overlooking the River Stour. Mr. G. Brownen, the 
conductor of the party, then gave a brief description of the place. 
Hod Hill was one of a chain of border fortresses of the Brythonic 
races, who controlled the crossing of the Stour at this particular 
point against the Goedel, or Gael. It is nearly 500ft. above 
mean sea level, and about 300ft. above the valley below. On the 
steep escarpment facing the Stour only one rampart and its 
ditch was deemed necessary by either Briton or Roman, but on 
the Northern and Eastern sides, which were naturally more 
accessible, the entrenchments were doubled and made artificially 
steep. Attention was called to two oblong depressions as water 
tanks, and a number of smaller circular depressions, indicative 
of the pit dwellings of the more ancient races who held the 
hill. Attention was next directed to the almost square portion 
of the North-west as a modification by the Roman conquerors, 
thus forming an exploratory camp for the district and also a 
controlling fortress of the British town. 
Prehistoric relics in bronze, silver, stone and pottery, with 
uninscribed British coins, have been found here, as well as the 
Roman Imperial coinage of the first century A.D., from Claudius 
to Nero and Drusus. Iron weapons and coins of the later 
periods of the third and fourth centuries have also been found 
in the more sheltered valleys below. A valuable collection of 
the finds is preserved in the British Museum. 
The party then proceeded to Shaftesbury, and, on arrival, 
were conducted by the Rev. F. Ehlvers, Rector of Shaftesbury, 
to the fifteenth century Church of St. Peter. This church has 
been restored, and is occasionally used; it contains interesting 
relics of the age immediately preceding the Reformation. From 
there they proceeded to the Town Hall, where, in a cellar beneath 
it, attention was called to the ancient history of the town and 
some of its municipal treasures, and relics of the famous Abbey. 
A visit was then paid to the Castle Hill and the site of the 
Abbey Church. Assembling near the site of the high altar in 
the nave, they were told the story of its foundation in the ninth 
century by Alfred the Great as “ The abbey of our Lady,” and 
over its nuns Alfred placed as its first Abbess his daughter, 
Ethelgifu. About a century later the body of King Edmund, 
