Photo Pages: Buckland Rings - Ancient Village or Settlement in England in Hampshire

Buckland Rings, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, has impressive earthworks comprising three banks or ramparts and two ditches enclosing a rectangular area of about 4.5 hectares.

The ramparts and ditches are substantially complete except on the east side, where in the 18th century, a farmer levelled the banks to gain easier access to the interior. The only original entrance was on this side and traces of it are still visible to the trained eye.

Small scale excavations were carried out in the entrance area by Christopher Hawkes in the 1930's. Modern interpretation of his results and evidence from other excavated forts suggest that the Buckland Rings could have been constructed as early as 400 BC and the defences may have been rebuilt several times before abandonment, probably before the Roman Conquest in 43 AD.

Buckland Rings is a multivallate hill fort dating from the Iron Age period – 4th century BC to 1st century AD – early historians thought it was Roman. It has well preserved triple banks and double ditches but it may have started out with a single bank and ditch system. This type of site is rare in lowland areas and as such is the best preserved and most important in the Hampshire/Dorset basin. The east side which contained the entrance was partly ploughed up in the mid 18th century and in the present century two houses were built inside the west end near where the outer bank has been lost along Sway Road.