SDO14667 - The Rings, Corfe Castle, Dorset. Geophysical and Topographical Survey Report.

‘The ringwork and bailey monument known as ‘the Rings’, Corfe Castle , Dorset, was the focus of a detailed geophysical and topographic survey carried out as part of the University of Exeter research project ‘Anarchy? War and Status in Twelfth-Century Landscapes of Conflict’. The survey area totalled 0.9ha of land including the monument itself and pastoral land to the east. The survey methodology comprised an analytical survey of the archaeological earthwork remains, in addition to magnetometer survey. Magnetometry survey identified two curving features which may represent an outwork of The Rings, the remains of agricultural activity or a ploughed-out barrow. More likely related to military activity is a platform to the east of the monument identified by both earthwork survey and through analysis of LiDAR data. The platform likely relates to a secondary phase of construction at The Rings, probably during the English Civil War. A further development to the original form of the monument was the creation of an internal terrace of the ringwork which formed an apparent walkway on all but the northern portion of the enclosure. The bailey also appears to have been altered from its original form, with the north-western and eastern sides of the monument raised to a greater height than the surrounding earthwork complex. Again, these are interpreted as seventeenth century alterations to the original form of a medieval earthwork. Earth resistance survey identified a number of anomalies which may relate to structures, particularly within the bailey of The Rings. The fieldwork evidence from the survey supports the premise that The Rings represents a siegework first constructed during the twelfth century which underwent modification and extension during the post-medieval period. ‘