Ball Hill, Dorset

Ball Hill
Dorset
Ball Hill from the Wessex Ridgeway
Range:	Dorset Downs
Summit:	823 feet ST721034 50°49’48"N, 2°23’49"W

Ball Hill, amongst the Dorset Downs, is one of the highest hills in Dorset, rising to 823 feet above sea level. It is found on the course of the Wessex Ridgeway.

Location

The summit of Ball Hill lies at the eastern end of a short ridge running from east to west. Its lower, western end is known as Church Hill. To the south a short spur drops steeply to the hamlet of Plush in Watcombe Bottom. To the north the land descends more gradually to the vale of Lydden.

The hill stands about two and a half miles south-east of Buckland Newton, four miles west of Cerne Abbas and five and a half miles west of Milton Abbas. Other prominent hills in the vicinity include Lyscombe Hill (856 feet) to the south-east on the other side of the hamlet of Folly.

History

There is evidence of prehistoric settlement on almost every hill in the vicinity, with a hill fort on Nettlecombe Tout (a spur of Lyscombe Hill) to the east, cross dykes and tumuli on the flanks of Lyscombe Hill to the southeast and a tumulus and field system on Church Hill to the west.