Monument record MDO28036 - Oval enclosure at end of linear earthwork, Buzbury Rings, Tarrant Keyneston

A small oval enclosure at the east end of a linear boundary on the south side of Buzbury Rings identified from aerial photographs. The feature is visible as an earthwork on an aerial photograph dated 1947 and on Environment Agency lidar imagery. On lidar, the feature doesn't appear to have any entrance on the N side, perhaps alternatively suggesting a Bronze Age barrow rather than an enclosure? It was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM Project.

A small oval enclosure at the east end of a linear boundary on the south side of Buzbury Rings identified from aerial photographs.

The feature is visible as an earthwork on an aerial photograph dated 1947 and on Environment Agency lidar imagery [2, 3], where it appears to comprise a sub-oval banked feature just under 31.5 long by 30m wide. The centre may be slightly ditched or hollowed. No certain entrance could be identified - on lidar, the feature doesn't appear to have any entrance on the N side, on available aerial sources it is less determinate perhaps the suggestion of a possible entrance to the northeast [2, 3]. The feature might be an enclosure, but alternatively could be a Bronze Age barrow with evidence of robbing? It was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM Project.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 104 (Monograph). SDO99.

'Five Linear Ditches lie in the vicinity of Buzbury Rings and extend into the adjacent parishes of Langton Long Blandford, Tarrant Monkton and Tarrant Rawston. Their full extent is no longer clearly visible on the ground, it but can be traced on air photographs (R.A.F. CPE/UK 1893: 3067-8). Together with Buzbury Rings, ‘ Celtic ‘ fields of Group (70), and later tracks, they comprise a complex of earthworks which recent destruction by cultivation makes difficult to interpret satisfactorily.

(17) Linear Earthwork, 400 yds. Long, curving around the S. and W. sides of Buzbury Rings, is almost certainly contemporary with some phase of the settlement; it has been almost entirely destroyed by ploughing. On the S., where it adjoined the Rings and was best preserved, it comprised a ditch 30 ft. across and 2 ft. deep, with widely spread banks up to 75 ft. across and no more than 1 ft. high on either side. At the S. E. end (919320579) the outer bank divided to form an oval enclosure 70 ft. by 55 ft., with a gap, not certainly an entrance, in the N. side. At the N.W. end (91680600), where it diverges furthest from the Rings, the earthwork meets (18), but it is not certainly contemporary with it.'

<2> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN_1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 RP 3156 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18581.

<3> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Jan 31 2024 4:51PM