Woolsbarrow

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Woolsbarrow

Dorset


Trig point on top of the hillfort
Type: Hillfort
Location
Grid reference: SY892924
Location: 50°43’53"N, 2°9’11"W
History
Built Late Bronze - Early Iron Age
(8th - 5th centuries BC)
Information

Woolsbarrow is a hill-fort on Bloxworth Heath in south-eastern Dorset. It dates to the period from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age (8th–5th centuries BC). Although the site is only being at an altitude of 220 feet, the fort is said to "dominate the surrounding heathland."[1]

The fort is a scheduled ancient monument.[2]

Location

Woolsbarrow is located in a clearing in the forests of Bloxworth Heath. The nearest town is Bere Regis, about three miles to the west of the hill-fort.[3] The heath is a popular walking area and the site can be reached by public footpath.

Description

Woolsbarrow is a slight univallate hillfort on a flat-topped knoll on the plateau of Bloxworth Heath, which separates the rivers Sherford to the east and Piddle to the west. The fort is marked by a single rampart about twenty feet below the top of the gravel knoll and covers an area of around two and a quarter acres.[1] The eastern part of the hillfort has been damaged by sand and gravel extraction, but much of it survives well and has the potential for further archaeological evidence to be uncovered.[2]

This is one of only about 150 slight univallate hillforts nationally and is of national importance.[2]

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Woolsbarrow)

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 National Monuments Record: No. 456149 – Woolsbarrow
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 National Heritage List 1018437: Woolsbarrow, a hillfort on Bloxworth Heath
  3. Woolsbarrow: Hillfort at www.themodernantiquarian.com. Retrieved 5 November 2016.