It's been a long while since we've walked this way. Ringmoor was not our intended destination for our walk today, that had been the Purbecks, although we found a section of the A35 closed and after an attempt to circumnavigate the closure alternation walking was sought; and the high center of Dorset called us. Ringmoor is an ancient place, the linear banks and ditches, circular enclosures, shallow depressions and track represent the earthen remains of an Iron Age farmstead. Unlike much of the surrounding area, Ringmoor's foot print has never gone under the plough and has been preserved through the ages; its features easily traced. An important archaeological site. At the top of the site, towards the summit of the hill, is an ancient dew pond, contemporary with the settlement and used long after by animals using the drovers path; the settlements track was still utilized long after the settlement had been abandoned.
Above Ringmoor, high on Bell Hill, runs a section of the 137 mile long Wessex ridge-way, offering spectacular views over three counties; Dorset, Wiltshire and Somerset. On one commanding hill, in the middle distance, the impressive ditches and ramparts of Hambledon Hill are clearly visible; the massive hillfort would have been occupied during a large period of Ringmoors occupation, although the latter continued throughout the Romano British, by which time Hambledon would have been greatly reduced, if anyone lived there at all. The Romans would have cleared such symbols of tribal power, for fear of insurrection.
It may not have been our walk of choice, but what we got was far more than we had expected from our day on the coast, fantastic as that would have been. Absence certainly makes the heart goes fonder and our absence from this landscape has been too long; we'll be back this way soon as. There are potentially miles of track to get reacquainted with as well as new paths to find. Happy days.
Above Ringmoor, high on Bell Hill, runs a section of the 137 mile long Wessex ridge-way, offering spectacular views over three counties; Dorset, Wiltshire and Somerset. On one commanding hill, in the middle distance, the impressive ditches and ramparts of Hambledon Hill are clearly visible; the massive hillfort would have been occupied during a large period of Ringmoors occupation, although the latter continued throughout the Romano British, by which time Hambledon would have been greatly reduced, if anyone lived there at all. The Romans would have cleared such symbols of tribal power, for fear of insurrection.
It may not have been our walk of choice, but what we got was far more than we had expected from our day on the coast, fantastic as that would have been. Absence certainly makes the heart goes fonder and our absence from this landscape has been too long; we'll be back this way soon as. There are potentially miles of track to get reacquainted with as well as new paths to find. Happy days.
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