View SE up through the W entrance of Badbury Rings Iron Age hillfort, Kingston Lacy, Dorset, England, UK: original entrance was staggered not straight
View SE up through the W entrance of Badbury Rings Iron Age hillfort, Kingston Lacy, Dorset, England, UK. Built in two main phases starting with the inner ring no earlier than 500-600BC with the outer circuit added later. The ramparts surround a low hilltop 100m above sea level, the inner enclosure covers some hectares (18 acres) & contains hut circles. The middle rampart of the W entrance has been broken through in recent times to create a straight entrance, rather than the original staggered approach requiring changes of direction. The site was in the territory of the local Celtic tribe the Durotriges. Immediately W is the site of a Romano-Celtic temple in use C1st-5th AD. By late Roman times five Roman roads made a complicated junction on the N of the fort, including the Ackland Dyke Old Sarum (Salisbury) to Dorchester route. To the SW near the village of Shapwick is the site of Vindocladia, a pre-Roman settlement which grew into a Romano-British town in use into the C5thAD. Badbury Rings has legendary associations with King Arthur being one of several locations suggested for the Battle of Mount Badon, Arthur's 12th & last battle against the Saxons. Since this photo was taken in September 1995 the National Trust has repaired erosion scars on the banks & manages the chalk downland to allow longer grass with wild flowers.
Size: 4961px × 3785px
Location: Badbury Rings Hillfort, Kingston Lacy, Blandford Forum, Dorset, England, UK
Photo credit: © Mick Sharp / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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