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Photo Pages: Dorset Cursus - Cursus in England in Dorset
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Submitted by JimChampion on Friday, 22 April 2005 Page Views: 10128
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 Site Name: Dorset Cursus Country: England County: Dorset Type: Cursus
Nearest Town: Blandford Forum Nearest Village: Pentridge
Map Ref: SU017160 Landranger Map Number: 184
Latitude: 50.943437N Longitude: 1.977175W
Condition:| 5 | Perfect | | 4 | Almost Perfect | | 3 | Reasonable but with some damage | | 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site | | 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks | | 0 | No data. | | -1 | Completely destroyed |
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Ambience:| 5 | Superb | | 4 | Good | | 3 | Ordinary | | 2 | Not Good | | 1 | Awful | | 0 | No data. |
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Access:| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access | | 4 | Short walk on a footpath | | 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk | | 2 | A long walk | | 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find | | 0 | No data. |
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Accuracy:| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates | | 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map | | 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map | | 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village | | 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town | | 0 | no data |
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   Dorset Cursus submitted by JimChampion
Cursus in Dorset
The Dorset Cursus, probably Britain's largest neolithic site, runs for 6 miles (10km) through the chalk downs of Cranborne Chase. Originally it consisted of a pair of parallel banks about 90m apart running northeast-southwest, but not perfectly straight. It is now largely visible only as crop or soil marks, but some of the original earthworks remain along with many associated long barrows.
Access Though little of the Cursus earthworks remain, the 10km stretch is rich in prehistory and natural beauty and well worth visiting. It runs just south of, and parallel to, the A354 road from Salisbury to Blandford Forum (which is served by buses). Parking is possible at the Martin Down nature reserve car park (SU037200), alongside the B3081 (southeast of the roundabout) and at the Wyke Down car park (SU005150) which is a large layby on the Sixpenny Handley-Wimborne St Giles minor road. There is no public right of way along the whole of the Cursus (as there is along the Roman Ackling Dyke) but the area is criss-crossed with bridleways, footpaths and lanes. Pedestrians should stay away from the busy A354 road. The OS Explorer Map (Number 118) is essential: it shows the whole course of the Cursus and all the rights of way and car parks. If anything it gives too much detail, showing archaeological features that are not visible.
 Dorset Cursus submitted by DrewParsons
Looking north east along the cursus from SU018160. September 2009
 Dorset Cursus submitted by DrewParsons
Looking south east along the cursus at SU 018160 where the B3081 crosses the cursus. September 2009.
 Dorset Cursus submitted by JimChampion
View south-west from the top of the Pleistocene river cliff in Chalk Pit Field, Down Farm. A seasonal lake forms in the depression below the cliff, in what is usually the dry upper reaches of the Allen Valley. The northern bank of the Dorset Cursus once passed underfoot, crossing the valley and intersects the eastern edge of Fir Tree Field before climbing up to the long barrow on Gussage Cow Down.
 Dorset Cursus submitted by JimChampion
Winter solstice 2005, late in the afternoon. Looking south-west along the southern bank of the cursus where it crosses the ridge of Bottlebush Down (at grid ref SU018159 alongside the B3081 road). This is one of the few easily-accessible places where any trace of the cursus banks remain. Presumably it has only survived ploughing because it forms a boundary between fields. There are no visible rema
 Dorset Cursus submitted by Thorgrim
Age upon age - the Dorset Cursus with later round barrows and the Roman road of the Ackling Dyke cutting across it.
Pencil sketch from an aerial photograph by J E Hancock in James Dyer's "Ancient Britain".
 Dorset Cursus submitted by JimChampion
April 2005. Looking northeast along the course of the Dorset Cursus from the terminal on Thickthorn Down towards the transverse long barrow on the ridge of Gussage Hill. The white lines approximate the original positions of the cursus banks, which take a fairly straight course over this 3km stretch. The tree-covered hill on the horizon is Penbury Knoll, a vantage point over the whole of the Cursus
 Dorset Cursus submitted by JimChampion
April 2005. Panorama of the course of the Dorset Cursus on Bottlebush Down. In the foreground, and on the horizon to the left, are remains of the SE cursus bank: the intervening section has been ploughed down. The course of the NW bank and ditch is only visible as a soil mark stretching across the field (indicated by the arrow).
 Dorset Cursus Southwest Terminal submitted by JimChampion
April 2005. Looking northwest at the earthworks of the Dorset Cursus's southwestern terminal from the nearby long barrow. The enlarged bank ends can be clearly seen, and the end of the cursus is squared off with a terminal bank about 100m in length. The cursus heads off to the right of the picture, towards the long barrow on Gussage Hill.
 Dorset Cursus submitted by JimChampion
Looking NE along the course of the Dorset Cursus, from a point on Bottlebush down (near where the cursus is intersected by the B3081 road) towards the Salisbury Plantation. The bank on the right in the foreground is one of the only remaining parts of the earthworks: the route of the two banks has been sketched onto the photograph. The left bank is just visible as crop/soil marks. Here the cursus d
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Dorset Cursus details (Score: 1)
by JimChampion on Friday, 22 April 2005
(User Info | Send a Message) | Very little remains of the Dorset Cursus, a Neolithic ceremonial avenue that stretched for 10 kilometres through the undulating chalkland of Cranborne Chase in eastern Dorset. Most of the information we have about the course of this remarkable earthwork comes from aerial photography and probing, although there are a few sites (mentioned below) where there are visible remains.
The Cursus dates from 2600 BCE which makes it contemporary with the earthen long barrows on Cranborne Chase: many of these are found near, on, or within the Cursus and since they are still in existence they help the modern visitor to trace the Cursus' course. The relationship between the Cursus and the alignment of these barrows suggests that they had a common ritual significance to the Neolithic people who spent an estimated 0.5 million worker-hours in its construction.
The Cursus consisted of a pair of parallel banks (1.5m tall) running about 100m apart, with external ditches 1.5m deep and 2m wide. Parts of these banks are still visible within Salisbury Plantation on Oakley Down, where a long barrow is built into the NW bank (grid ref SU025169). A 250 metre length of the SE bank remains on the NE-facing slope of Bottlebush Down (grid ref SU019161, at right angles to the B3081 road). These banks were linked together by cross-banks at the terminals; of these only the southwestern terminal bank on Thickthorn Down remains (grid ref ST969124), the north-eastern terminal on Martin Down (grid ref SU040191) has been removed by centuries of ploughing.
The overall orientation of the Cursus is NE-SW; it does not follow a perfectly straight line between its terminals, but consists of several straight sections (of varying lengths) with abrupt but small changes in direction. It is believed that the cursus was built in two separate phases: the 5.6km long southwesterly section (from Thickthorn Down to Bottlebush Down) first, later being extended another 4.3km NE (from Bottlebush Down to Martin Down).
The Cursus' only significant astronomical alignment is related to its SW orientation: an observer at the phase 1 terminal on Bottlebush Down would see the midwinter sun set behind the long barrow lying across the Cursus on the ridge of Gussage Down. It has been suggested that any processions along the Cursus would take place from the Martin Down terminal in a southwesterly direction for maximum visual impact (of natural and artificial features) along the route.
The course of the Cursus is by no means flat, and there is also no overall 'downhill' direction. In fact the vertical profile of the phase 1 part of the Cursus is quite symmetric: it has the ridge of Gussage Down in the middle, with river valleys on either side and the terminals near the summits of the neighbouring ridges. The phase 2 section has one steep valley crossing (between Bottlebush Down and Salisbury Plantation) and beyond that it stops traversing the contours and follows them instead, gently undulating its way towards the terminal on Martin Down. There is considerable speculation about the links between the 'ritual landscape' and the course of the Cursus, and frustratingly none of it brings us any closer to understanding why Neolithic people chose to build this vast avenue.
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Re: Dorset Cursus (Score: 1)
by Thorgrim on Friday, 22 April 2005
(User Info | Send a Message) | | This photo-essay by Jim on the Dorset cursus is excellent and really shows how an interesting site can be portrayed on the Portal. Check out his brilliant download too! Love to see more in-depth studies like this. I am currently looking at the mysterious cursus monuments and hope to publish a discussion item shortly. What was their purpose? | [ Reply to This ]
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Re: Dorset Cursus (Score: 1)
by Thorgrim on Friday, 02 December 2005
(User Info | Send a Message) | | Ackling is an Anglo-Saxon name. It can mean "oak wood" as in Acklam, East Yorkshire. Or it can mean "Eadlac's people" as in Ackleton, Shropshire and Acklington, Northumberland. Both mean the "tun" (ie farm or village) of Eadlac's people. I believe that the dike is Saxon, but possibly Roman. | [ Reply to This ]
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Re: Dorset Cursus (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Friday, 02 December 2005 | | Hi my name is Pat, and I'm hoping you can help, I have been trying for some time to find out more info on Ackling Dike. can you help, what I would like to find out , is how old is the Dike, and how did It come by It's name. Would be most grateful. Pat Ackling. | [ Reply to This ]
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