Monument record MDO7215 - Woolsbarrow, Bloxworth

A small hill fort consisting of a single bank and ditch around the flat top of a gravel knoll, and enclosing an area of just over two acres. Much of the interior has been disturbed by quarrying. There is an original entrance on the south east side, but it has been damaged by a later trackway. The remains of the Iron Age hillfort described above are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs.

This hill-fort is now heavily covered by scrub and conifers. About 5.0 to 6.0 metres below the plateau top to the hillside has been scarped to form a ditch up to 2.0 metres wide, with a counterscarp bank 3.0 metres wide and 0.8 metres high. This survives around half of the perimeter, the remainder now appearing as a terrace. The `tumuli' shown on the O.S. 25" 1902 but omitted from the 1954 and subsequent editions, are natural gravel knolls of varying shapes and sizes. Revised at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <4>

A small hill fort consisting of a single bank and ditch around the flat top of a gravel knoll, and enclosing an area of just over two acres. Much of the interior has been disturbed by quarrying (MDO30103). There is an original entrance on the south east side, but it has been damaged by a later trackway.

The remains of the Iron Age hillfort described above are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs <6-9>. These features were digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1902 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred SY 893925) Woolsbarrow (Camp) (NR) (SY 89389258) Tumulus (NR) (SY 891925; SY 892924) Tumuli (NR) (twice)

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY89319254) Woolsbarrow (NAT) Earthwork (NR)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 487 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(44) WOOLSBARROW (SY 89 SE; 893925; Plate 212), on Bloxworth Heath and now in a State Forest midway between the Sherford River and a tributary of the Piddle, both ½ mile distant, is the smallest hill-fort in South-east Dorset. Its anomalous form makes its date uncertain.
A single bank with inner ditch surrounds a gravel knoll some 20 ft. below its flat top, enclosing an area of some 2¼ acres. Though the highest point is only 220 ft. above O.D. it dominates the surrounding heathland, which falls sharply on all sides except on the S.E., where a simple gap entrance leads to a natural saddle connecting the hilltop with a lower spur.
The whole site has been much disturbed. Most of the interior has been quarried away to a depth of some feet, exposing a well-formed podsol, but there is no evidence that a bank ever stood on the edge of the inner scarp. The mounds in the S.W. and N.E. angles are probably no more than the residue of quarrying; the N.E. mound was dug by a Mr. Groves of Wareham without result (Warne, Ancient Dorset, (1872), 87). Soil slip has largely filled the ditch and the bank, at its most prominent, is about 18 ft. across and only 2½ ft. above the ditch bottom. A modern trackway obscures the original form of the entrance. The ‘tumuli’ shown on some maps around the site are probably natural, the result of differential erosion (Hutchins I, 181).’

<4> Attrill, N J, Field Investigators Comments NJA, F1 NJA 31-MAR-81 (Unpublished document). SDO14743.

<5> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<6> Dorset County Council, 2002, VAP (Aerial Photograph). SDO13141.

<7> Dorset County Council, XX-XXX-2009, Dorset CC Vertical Digital Photo Tile (Aerial Photograph). SDO13314.

<8> Dorset County Council, XX-XXX-2005, Dorset CC Vertical Digital Photo Tile (Aerial Photograph). SDO13151.

<9> Pan Government Agreement, 2008, PGA (Aerial Photograph). SDO13137.

<10> Lock, G, and Ralston, I, 2017, Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland [ONLINE], EN3611 (Digital archive). SDO17130.

<11> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 883472 (Index). SDO14738.

RCHME: Woolsbarrow Camp, Bloxsworth, Dorset. 1 profile at different scale

<12> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AF0887219 (Index). SDO14738.

RCHME: File - Bloxworth. Woolsbarrow Camp, ink plan on plain paper.Contents : PlanCondition : INTACT

<13> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB71/11910 (Index). SDO14738.

VIEW FROM SOUTH

<14> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB74/04555 (Index). SDO14738.

PLAN OF HILLFORT - MUCH DISTURBED BY GRAVEL DIGGING

<15> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB74/04556 (Index). SDO14738.

PLAN OF HILLFORT - MUCH DISTURBED BY GRAVEL DIGGING

<16> Historic England, Historic England Archive, CC74/00410 (Index). SDO14738.

PLAN OF HILLFORT - MUCH DISTURBED BY GRAVEL DIGGING

<17> Historic England, Historic England Archive, F52/43/5 (Index). SDO14738.

INTERNAL VIEW TO SHOW `WALL' LEFT BY GRAVEL DIGGING AND NATURAL MOUND,A SUPPOSED TUMULUS

<18> Historic England, Historic England Archive, F52/43/6 (Index). SDO14738.

DITCH BETWEEN SCARPS LOOKING NORTH FROM SY 8938 9253

<19> Historic England, Historic England Archive, OS52/F43/5 (Index). SDO14738.

WOOLSBARROW - IRON AGE HILLFORT, BLOXWORTH. Photographer: UNKNOWN

<20> Historic England, Historic England Archive, OS52/F43/6 (Index). SDO14738.

WOOLSBARROW - IRON AGE HILLFORT, BLOXWORTH. Photographer: UNKNOWN

<21> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456149 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 11 2024 3:27PM