Castle Rings, Wiltshire

Castle Rings is a univallate hill fort in the parish of Donhead St Mary in Wiltshire in England. The fort is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, with a list entry identification number of 1005698. Castle Rings has been dated to the Iron Age and is situated at an altitude of 228m upon Upper Greensand sandstone beds. The main bulk of the fort enclosure lies within the boundaries of Donhead St Mary parish but some of the outlying earthworks are situated in the neighbouring Sedgehill and Semley parish. In the mid-1980s a metal detectorist unearthed a hoard of stater coins of the Durotriges tribe within the hill fort. Lady Theodora Grosvenor described the fort in her 1867 book Motcombe, Past and Present: Physical characteristicsThe rampart of the fort stands 2. 8m high with a 0. 4m deep ditch; the ditch is set between double earth banks. The ditch averages 16m wide and varies in depth to a maximum of 4. 4m. The inner rampart has an average width of 8m and stands 1. 9m above the internal surface level of the fort. The fort measures 320by (NS by EW), enclosing an area of 12. 8acre. There is a counter-scarp bank that averages 5m wide and varies in height from 3. 1m at the southwest to between 0. 8and at the northeast; at the southwest this bank is high enough to give the impression of a bivallate fort. There are four gaps in the ramparts, one in each of the cardinal directions, but it is not known if these were original entrances to the fort. The east and west gaps are suspected of being the original entrances while the narrower gaps on the north and south sides are thought to be modern field entrances. The roughly oval rampart of the fort is overgrown with trees and bushes. The interior of Castle Rings is flat and used for pasture; there is no visible evidence of Iron Age occupation.

Castle Rings is a univallate hill fort in the parish of Donhead St Mary in Wiltshire in England. The fort is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, with a list entry identification number of 1005698. Castle Rings has been dated to the Iron Age and is situated at an altitude of 228m upon Upper Greensand sandstone beds. The main bulk of the fort enclosure lies within the boundaries of Donhead St Mary parish but some of the outlying earthworks are situated in the neighbouring Sedgehill and Semley parish. In the mid-1980s a metal detectorist unearthed a hoard of stater coins of the Durotriges tribe within the hill fort. Lady Theodora Grosvenor described the fort in her 1867 book Motcombe, Past and Present: Physical characteristicsThe rampart of the fort stands 2. 8m high with a 0. 4m deep ditch; the ditch is set between double earth banks. The ditch averages 16m wide and varies in depth to a maximum of 4. 4m. The inner rampart has an average width of 8m and stands 1. 9m above the internal surface level of the fort. The fort measures 320by (NS by EW), enclosing an area of 12. 8acre. There is a counter-scarp bank that averages 5m wide and varies in height from 3. 1m at the southwest to between 0. 8and at the northeast; at the southwest this bank is high enough to give the impression of a bivallate fort. There are four gaps in the ramparts, one in each of the cardinal directions, but it is not known if these were original entrances to the fort. The east and west gaps are suspected of being the original entrances while the narrower gaps on the north and south sides are thought to be modern field entrances. The roughly oval rampart of the fort is overgrown with trees and bushes. The interior of Castle Rings is flat and used for pasture; there is no visible evidence of Iron Age occupation.