Location | West Parley grid reference SZ077979 |
---|---|
Coordinates | 50°46′52″N1°53′29″W / 50.78107°N 1.89144°W |
Type | Hillfort |
History | |
Periods | Iron Age |
Dudsbury Camp (or Dudsbury Rings) is one of a series of Iron Age earthworks in Dorset, starting from Hambledon Hill, and including Hod Hill, Spetisbury Rings, Buzbury Rings, Badbury Rings and Dudsbury Camp. The Iron Age port at Hengistbury Head forms a final Iron Age monument in this small chain of sites. [1] The fort is located near the village of West Parley.
Dudsbury takes its name from a man called Duds or Dudd, a 6th-century Saxon. Domesday records that "Azelin holds Dodsberie of Waleran. Godwin held it in King Edward's time and it was taxed for one hide. There is land to plough which is there, with four bordars, and seven acres of meadow and six of wood, pasture half a league long and five quarterns broad. It was and is worth 20s."
Dudsbury is an Iron Age hillfort situated on the north bank of the River Stour. The defences enclose a semicircular area of about 3 hectares and consist of double ramparts and ditch on the west, north and east sides, with a steep slope to the river on the south side. [2] Much of the outer rampart and ditch has been obliterated or severely damaged. [2] The best preserved portion lies near the southwest corner where the inner rampart stands 1.5 metres above the interior and 4 metres above the bottom of the outer ditch. [2] The outer rampart there rises over 5 metres above the bottom of the ditch. [2] There are four entrances to the hillfort, but probably only the west entrance, and possibly the south entrance, are original. [2]
Limited excavations were conducted by Heywood Sumner in 1921, but little was found except for some Iron Age pottery sherds on the northwest side. [2]
The interior of the hillfort was used for agriculture for many years except for the northeast quadrant which has a house and garden. [2]
In 1930, fourteen acres were secured as a camp site for the Bournemouth Division of the Girl Guides Association from its then owner, Lord Wimborne, who, in sympathy with the scheme, generously parted with the land for a nominal sum. This section is now the Dudsbury Guide Camp. [3] The house and garden in the northeast quadrant is now occupied by the Warden of the Guide Camp.
The Dudsbury Golf Club Hotel and Spa which opened in 2006 announced its permanent closure in January 2024. [4]
Badbury Rings is an Iron Age hill fort and Scheduled Monument in east Dorset, England. It was in the territory of the Durotriges. In the Roman era a temple was located immediately west of the fort, and there was a Romano-British town known as Vindocladia a short distance to the south-west.
Hod Hill is a large hill fort in the Blackmore Vale, 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Blandford Forum, Dorset, England. The fort sits on a 143 m (469 ft) chalk hill of the same name that lies between the adjacent Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase. The hill fort at Hambledon Hill is just to the north. The name probably comes from Old English "hod", meaning a shelter, though "hod" could also mean "hood", referring to the shape of the hill.
Rainsborough Camp is an Iron Age hillfort in West Northamptonshire, England, between the villages of Croughton, Aynho, and Charlton.
Buckland Rings is the site of an Iron Age hill fort in the town of Lymington, Hampshire. Today, the mounds and dykes around the outside which once constituted its defences are still clearly visible, although the outer bank lies under the road on the west side, and on the south-east it is nearly ploughed-out. Excavations of the inner and middle ramparts in 1935 revealed that they were of wall-and-fill construction, retained at the front by upright timber beams and walls of cut and laid turf. The entrance, which lies on the east side, was also excavated revealing a long entrance passage and the postholes for a pair of stout gateposts. The site was bought by Hampshire County Council in 1989 to ensure its preservation, and it is open to the public from the A337 road onto which part of it faces.
Scratchbury Camp is the site of an Iron Age univallate hillfort on Scratchbury Hill, overlooking the Wylye valley about 1 km northeast of the village of Norton Bavant in Wiltshire, England. The fort covers an area of 37 acres (15 ha) and occupies the summit of the hill on the edge of Salisbury Plain, with its four-sided shape largely following the natural contours of the hill.
Cholesbury Camp is a large and well-preserved Iron Age hill fort on the northern edge of the village of Cholesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It is roughly oval-shaped and covers an area, including ramparts, of 15 acres (6.1 ha), and measures approximately 310 m (1,020 ft) north-east to south-west by 230 m (750 ft) north-west to south-east. The interior is a fairly level plateau which has been in agricultural use since the medieval period. The hill fort is now a scheduled ancient monument.
Bratton Castle is a bivallate Iron Age built hill fort on Bratton Down, at the western edge of the Salisbury Plain escarpment. The hill fort comprises two circuits of ditch and bank which together enclose a pentagonal area of 9.3 hectares.
Berry Ring is an Iron Age hillfort in Staffordshire, England, lying some two miles southwest of the county town of Stafford, a mile to the southwest of Stafford Castle and half a mile to the west of the M6 motorway.
Caesar's Camp is an Iron Age hill fort straddling the border of the counties of Surrey and Hampshire in southern England. The fort straddles the borough of Waverley in Surrey and the borough of Rushmoor and the district of Hart, both in Hampshire. Caesar's Camp is a Scheduled Ancient Monument with a list entry identification number of 1007895. It lies approximately 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) north of the town of Farnham, and a similar distance west of Aldershot. The hillfort lies entirely within the Bourley and Long Valley Site of Special Scientific Interest. Caesar's Camp is a multivallate hillfort, a fort with multiple defensive rings, occupying an irregular promontory, with an entrance on the south side. The site has been much disturbed by military activity, especially at the southeast corner. The remains of the hillfort are considered to be of national importance.
Llwynda-Ddu Camp, also known as Llwynda-Ddu Hillfort, is a small Iron Age earthwork in Pentyrch, Cardiff in South Wales. The site is a scheduled monument, described as a prehistoric, defensive hillfort.
Beacon Hill, also known as Harting Beacon, is a hillfort on the South Downs, in the county of West Sussex in southern England. The hillfort is located in the parish of Elsted and Treyford, in Chichester District. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument with a list entry identification number of 1015915. The hilltop enclosure is dated to the Late Bronze Age, from the 8th to 6th centuries BC. The hillfort defences were renewed during the Late Iron Age.
Chalbury Hillfort is an Iron Age hillfort about 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east of the village of Bincombe, in Dorset, England. It is a scheduled monument.
Cadson Bury is an Iron Age hillfort about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Callington, in Cornwall, England.
Bury Walls is an Iron Age hillfort about 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east of Weston-under-Redcastle, in Shropshire, England. It is a scheduled monument.
Hollingbury Castle, also known as Hollingbury Camp and Hollingbury Hillfort, is an Iron Age hillfort on the northern edge of Brighton, in East Sussex, England. It is adjacent to Hollingbury Park Golf Course.
Aconbury Camp is an Iron Age hillfort on Aconbury Hill in Herefordshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) south of Hereford, and near the village of Aconbury. It is a scheduled monument.
Dungeon Hill is an Iron Age hillfort, about 1+1⁄4 miles north of the village of Buckland Newton in Dorset, England. It is a scheduled monument.
Banbury Hillfort, or Banbury Hill Camp, is an Iron Age hillfort, about 1.25 miles (2.0 km) south of Sturminster Newton and 1 mile (1.6 km) north-west of the village of Okeford Fitzpaine in Dorset, England.
Portfield also known as Planes Wood Camp is a late Bronze Age or Iron Age hillfort situated close to the town of Whalley in Lancashire, Northern England. It is thought to have originally been constructed as a univallate structure and then modified into a small multivallate one sometime after.
Brandon Camp is an archaeological site, about 1 mile south of Leintwardine, in Herefordshire. England. It is a hillfort of the Iron Age, which later became a Roman fort. The site is a scheduled monument.