Dudsbury Camp

Last updated

Dudsbury Camp
Dudsbury Rings - geograph.org.uk - 469109.jpg
Dudsbury Camp viewed from the south
Dorset UK location map.svg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Shown within Dorset
Location West Parley
grid reference SZ077979
Coordinates 50°46′52″N1°53′29″W / 50.78107°N 1.89144°W / 50.78107; -1.89144
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.

Contents

Name

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."

Description

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]

Later use

Girl Guide building at Dudsbury Girl Guide Building at Dudsbury Rings - geograph.org.uk - 469124.jpg
Girl Guide building at Dudsbury

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]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Badbury Rings</span> Iron Age hill fort in east Dorset, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hod Hill</span> Hillfort in Dorset, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rainsborough Camp</span>

Rainsborough Camp is an Iron Age hillfort in West Northamptonshire, England, between the villages of Croughton, Aynho, and Charlton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buckland Rings</span> Iron Age hillfort in Hampshire, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scratchbury Camp</span> Iron Age hillfort in Wiltshire, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cholesbury Camp</span> Iron Age hillfort in Buckinghamshire, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bratton Castle</span> Iron Age hillfort in Wiltshire, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berry Ring</span> Iron Age hillfort in Staffordshire, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caesar's Camp, Rushmoor and Waverley</span> Iron Age hillfort in Hampshire, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beacon Hill, West Sussex</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chalbury Hillfort</span> Iron Age hillfort in Dorset, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadson Bury</span> Iron Age hillfort in Cornwall, England

Cadson Bury is an Iron Age hillfort about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Callington, in Cornwall, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bury Walls</span> Iron Age hillfort in Shropshire, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollingbury Castle</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aconbury Camp</span>

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+14 miles north of the village of Buckland Newton in Dorset, England. It is a scheduled monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banbury Hill</span> Iron Age hillfort in Dorset, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portfield Hillfort</span> Hillfort in Lancashire, 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.

References

  1. "Dudsbury Camp - Hillfort in England in Dorset". The Megalithic Portal. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Historic England. "Dudsbury (457812)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  3. The entrance location is 50.783094 N, 1.891914 W
  4. Russell, James (11 January 2024). "Dudsbury Golf Club Hotel and Spa announces closure". Hospitality & Catering News. Retrieved 15 January 2024.