Monument record MDO5020 - Linear earthwork, Buzbury Rings, Tarrant Keyneston

A linear earthwork curving around the south and west sides of Buzbury Rings, is almost certainly contemporary with some phase of the settlement. To the east it ends in a small oval enclosure. It consists of a ditch with banks on either side, but it has been almost entirely destroyed by ploughing. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water. The linear earthwork is visible on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM Project.

A linear earthwork, 400 yds long, curves around the S and W sides of Buzbury Rings and is almost certainly contemporary with some phase of the settlement. It has been almost entirely destroyed by ploughing. On the S, where it adjoins a ditch 30 ft wide and 2 ft deep, with widely spread banks up to 75 ft wide and no more than 1 foot high on either side. At the SE end (ST 91930579) the outer bank divided to form an oval enclosure, 70 by 55 ft. At the NW end (ST 91680600), where it diverges furthest from the Rings, the earthwork meets the dyke (ST 90 NW 32), but it is not certainly contemporary with it. <1>

The linear earthwork is visible on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery [4-7]. The earthwork comprises an inner ditch flanked by a bank either side, and possibly having a second outer ditch along the north side. It runs eastwards from just beyond an offshoot of a northeast-southwest aligned linear earthwork (MDO5021) to the west of Buzbury Rings (but does not appear to be part of this feature), curving southeast and then eastwards again around the southern edge of Buzbury Rings. At its eastern end it appears to split, with one section potentially continuing east past an oval enclosure (MDO28036) and a second section passing round (or possibly across but this is not certain) the southwestern side of the enclosure to continue south eastwards [5]. It is possibly a short section of cross dyke and contemporary with some phase of the settlement, possibly Iron Age onwards? The feature 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.'

<1.1> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 3067-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17504.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 scale map, 1976 (Map). SDO17396.

(ST 91920578) Earthwork (NR)

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209340 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<4> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN_1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 RP 3156 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18581.

<5> National Monuments Record, 07-APR-1989, NMR 4350/11 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18584.

<6> Royal Air Force, 01-JAN-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 3319 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18502.

<7> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Oct 16 2023 11:34AM