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<< Our Photo Pages >> Spettisbury Rings - Hillfort in England in Dorset

Submitted by JimChampion on Tuesday, 11 January 2005  Page Views: 18213

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Spettisbury Rings Alternative Name: Spetisbury Rings, Crawford Castle
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 1.29 km away from the location you searched for.

County: Dorset Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Blandford Forum  Nearest Village: Spetisbury
Map Ref: ST914020
Latitude: 50.817480N  Longitude: 2.123446W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
3

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I have visited· I would like to visit

fyrefly visited on 1st Jan 2007 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 3 Visited quite a few times over the years, can still walk along the old railway track. Great views from the top, can see Badbury Rings in the distance.

JimChampion have visited here

Spettisbury Rings
Spettisbury Rings submitted by JimChampion : January 2005. View of Spettisbury rings from across the Stour valley to the north-east. The far side of the hillfort rampart is visible on the horizon (surmounted by an OS trig point), the enclosed area is a lighter green colour, and the nearside rampart can be seen as a darker green colour in the gap between the trees. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Hill / Promonotory fort in Dorset. Overlooking the village of Spettisbury and the floodplain of the Stour valley, with views across to Badbury Rings on the horizon. The central enclosure has a diameter of approx. 150m. Defended by a single rampart and ditch, with a single entrance to the north west. These poor defences suggest that the hillfort was never finished.

This earthwork looks imposing from the Stour valley, as it sits on the end of a natural spur. The steep face of the spur provides additional defence, but was scarred in modern times by the construction of a railway cutting. According to Aerial archaeology in 1857 the railway navigators "uncovered a mass-grave of about 120 skeletons, probably the victims of the Roman invasion".

Access The Poole-Blandford railway line that cuts through the side of the hillfort was axed in the 1960s, and has recently been improved as part of the off-road cycle network. However, because it is in a cutting it provides no views of, or direct access to, the rings. There are two approaches:
  • A public footpath runs NW parallel to the old railway cyclepath from the B3075 (grid ref ST918017). Go along the edge of the field, over the stile into a thorny clump of trees, beyond which is a steep path up the SE rampart.

  • An easier approach: turn SW off the A350 in Spetisbury (grid ref ST913024) onto a minor road. Park to the left after passing under the disused railway bridge. Do not take the steps up to the disused railway station! Instead walk a short distance up the hill, take the public footpath into a field on the left (beware of livestock). The entrance to the earthworks will be directly ahead, 200m distant.


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Spettisbury Rings
Spettisbury Rings submitted by JimChampion : January 2005. Looking north over the Stour Valley from the highest point of Spettisbury rings rampart. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Spettisbury Rings
Spettisbury Rings submitted by JimChampion : January 2005. Composite image of the rampart and entrance, looking from the north west approach. The right to left downhill slope of the rampart is not an artifact of the photo-joining process, the hillfort is perched on the sloping end of a chalk ridge. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Spettisbury Rings
Spettisbury Rings submitted by JimChampion : A dull day in December 2003. A view of the simple entrance to Spettisbury Rings earthworks (also known as Crawford Castle), as indicated by my assistant. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.

Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
ST9102 : Spetisbury Rings by Mike Faherty
by Mike Faherty
©2012(licence)
ST9101 : Ramparts of  Spettisbury Rings by John Palmer
by John Palmer
©2009(licence)
ST9101 : Spetisbury Rings, trig point by Mike Faherty
by Mike Faherty
©2012(licence)
ST9101 : Spettisbury Rings trig point by michael ely
by michael ely
©2010(licence)
ST9102 : Spetisbury Halt, abandoned platform by michael ely
by michael ely
©2010(licence)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
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"Spettisbury Rings" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Re: Spettisbury Rings by coldrum on Sunday, 28 March 2010
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Re: Spettisbury Rings by JimChampion on Saturday, 29 January 2005
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Nicholas Thomas' Guide to prehistoric England (1976) gives a more detailed description of the defences:

The east defences have been destroyed by the railway cutting of 1857. At the north, near the cutting, the defensive bank and ditch is slight. Elsewhere along the circuit there are notable changes in the strength of the earthwork (in places it is 20 ft above the original land surface) which suggest strongly that it was never finished. The entrance at the north-west is original. ALong the north it is possible to see that 'Celtic' field banks are linked to the defences.
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