Man the barricades!

Someone's thrown up a ramshackle barricade of boughs and branches blocking the causeway into Mistleberry Enclosure, not that it matters though, the bank and ditch don't make a full circuit, so the obstacle is easily circumnavigated and the bank is far from insurmountable anyway. Also known as Mistleberry Fort, the site is described by the RCHME as an unfinished hillfort, though you know, I'm not so sure.  Mistleberry appears to be too small to be a fort, and the shape doesn't seem work either, I think it was possibly a defended settlement, maybe, or something else...the prehistorian in me would obviously suggest 'ritual' (archaeology joke).  Doing a geophys survey of the interior would shed some light, I reckon. Anyway, I digress. Someone's thrown up a ramshackle barricade of boughs and branches blocking the causeway into Mistleberry Enclosure...I don't know what that's about.

MIstleberry enclosure

MIstleberry enclosure in Mistleberry Wood near Sixpenny Handley in the Chase, recorded as an Iron Age Hillfort, and I'd suggest a misclassification. A lovely spot though. It’s certainly an enclosure of some kind, although with such slight ditches and ramparts (which are hardly defencive) and its open ended oval shape, and tapering in depth, width and height earthen features, I don't believe it's a hillfort. So what might it be? Maybe it could possibly be an unfinished hillfort (although it's not that big), a defended farmstead, or communal corral or meeting place maybe, or is it the prehistorians go to, and my particular favourite, a ritual site.  I don't know. I don't know if much or any research has been undertaken, beyond the cursory site visit by the Historic Monuments commission sometime early/middle last century leading to its classification. A desk top investigation might be a nice little project.  

Chase

It dawned on me that we'd not been out to the Chase in a while, very remiss I thought. So this morning we took off inland for the chalk hills and rolling arable farmland of the Dorset/Wiltshire border, and the heart of Cranborne Chase AONB. There was no one about as we made our way through the traditionally managed  coppice of Garston Wood, which over the years I've watched rise and fall through the coppice cycle. On along the fringe of Mistleberry Wood with its ancient earthworks, recently they've been managing the woodland through here too, cutting and clearing the woodland fringe and in so opening the boundary path right up. Then through the Forestry Commission mosaic woodland of  Stonedown Wood, before arriving atop the high chalk ridge and the Ox Drove. The views from the Ox Drove are expansive, you can see into 4 counties on a good day, and today was a good day. As we walked along the Ox Drove I soaked up as much of the scenery as I could, below the Ebble Valley revealed itself, with new sights continually coming into view as others disappeared behind pockets of woodland or were obscured by the undulous landscape. Lovely walking the high road, though it wasn't long before we took another track and disappeared back down into Stonedown Wood and our return journey. A majestic landscape, for sure.

Cranborne Chase and Winkelbury

The wrinkled landscape of Cranborne Chase is never boring, so wide ranging and varied as it is. It's a country landscape, of fields and hedgerows, scrubby woodland and coppice sheltering in its combes, rising above them exposed chalk grasslands reach for the skies, little changed in centuries, I'd imagine. Today was a good day for a walk in the chase, clear skies, an unseasonally warm feel, walking with an old friend who I don't see enough off (in fact the last time I saw him was last year, when we wandered the Chase). Our route was an undulating one, up through Garston Wood, with it's well managed Hazel coppice, down through Mistleberry Wood, up into Chase Woods following the Shire Rack, past Cuttice Lodge and up on to the Ox Drove, with it's fantastic views over four counties and on a good day as far the Isle of Wight. Man, it's always amazing to be up here, but on a clear day like today, it's something else.  We took a slight detour to wander about Winklebury, an Iron Age Hillfort positioned on a promontory overlooking the Berwick St John at the head of the Ebble Valley. It was excavated by Pitt-Rivers at the end of the 19th century who found evidence of Iron Age occupation, though I question whether it was a finished hillfort, it's defensive ramparts and ditches lack uniformity in nature and appear incomplete. The most striking features are the two linear outer ramparts and ditch defences some way from the main enclosure, which cut off the promontory.  The Chase is jam packed with archaeological features, it's always been a popular landscape. We made our way back down through Chase Wood, this time following the ups and downs of Chase Avenue, a neglected veteran Beech avenue, back through Mistleberry Wood with another Iron Age 'fort' which appears either incomplete or simply not a fort (I do wonder about some of the old Ministry of Works definitions of archaeological sites, several in the area appear suspect), before finally returning to Garston. Fantastic walk, longest I've done in a while too (12 miles of walking and talking), I've been slacking of late, must try harder. 

The Chase

The Chase was wonderful this afternoon, you could feel your senses waking along with nature. Although the chill winds were testament to the land still being held in winters embrace, you could feel everything champing at the bit, ready to burst into life. All the signs are there. The wheel has turned and change is afoot.  Whist passing through the Iron Age enclosure in Mistleberry Wood (marked on maps as a hillfort, though I don't think it is), beneath the still bare canopy of a veteran tree, we saw three Hares gathered in conference, as we approached they broke in three equidistant directions and made off. You don't get a more potent symbol of Spring than that. Walking on, the woodland of Stonedown Wood, still naked, is alive with bird song and hidden movement, preparations for what's come are under way. Following old paths and winding tracks we come out of cover on the windswept ridge of the chalk downs. The views from the top of the chalk downs are spectacular in which ever direction you choose to look, as you walk along the distant vistas change and closer by secluded valleys are revealed, only to disappear a short walk further. There's magic in this landscape, you can feel it. We're lucky to have such beautiful and magical landscapes on our doorstep.

Rampart Ramsons

The predominantly Oak canopy of Mistleberry Wood is still bare, as is its coppiced Hazel under-story, but as the ground warms the woodland is coming to life.  All over new life is preparing itself. The two most dominant plants in this particular woodland are the Ramson and Bluebell, the former by far the leader. Even at this early stage of the year the ramparts of Mistleberry Woods' prehistoric bank and ditch feature are swathed in young Ramsons, with even more just poking through the leaf litter.  It'll still be some time before flowers fill the woods, but when in full flower these woods will be filled with their pungent garlic aroma. Ramsons (Allium ursnium) are a really versatile wildfood resource, often found in damp ancient woodland, use them in salads, as a vegetable or just as a flavouring herb, add them to soups and breads, make wild garlic pesto, all the parts of the plant are edible, and where they grow, they often flourish, so are in bountiful supply when in season.  Two notes of caution, mind. Firstly, the have been confused with Lilly of the Valley, although all of the parts of the Ramson smell of garlic which help allay any confusion. Secondly, be careful when using, how much you use, I have found to the cost of several meals, how powerful a flavour Ramsons have and how easy it is to use too much.  All the constituents of  a wild spring green soup are coming together nicely, not long now.

Mistleberry Wood

The Ramsons still hold sway over Mistleberry Wood, even though in many other parts, including the adjacent Garsten Wood, the petals have dropped showing their triad of seeds developing. Interestingly, in Mistleberry there's appears a well defined demarcation between the realms of Ramson and Bluebell communities; Mistleberry Iron Age fort (and you know my view on that) appears to be the Ramson stronghold, whereas the Bluebells definitely dominate the land beyond the forts ditch. I wonder why that is? They're both ancient woodland species. I'd not walked this way for some weeks, at a time when life was only just returning; now though the woods of Garsten and Mistleberry are transformed, decked in lush green from ground to canopy top. This in turn transforms your walking experience; the aspect which I find most striking is the reduction of line of sight, gone are the long open views right through the woodland, now your views are restricted and directed, and in that they're more focused, you see more details; each season has it's own merits. A lovely walk.

Fort?

For the second time recently I've visited an archaeological site, which is marked on OS maps as a 'fort', only to find the label on the map didn't really fit what I saw on the ground. I wonder if the sites recorded by the RCHM in the early part of the last century might benefit from reevaluation in light of developments in archaeological techniques and theory. I didn't see a fort. I saw an oblong come oval enclosure delineated by a ditch and rampart, other than one end of the oval which was open with no visible defences. The 'defences' are represented by a relatively shallow ditch with quite a flat bottomed in places, backed by a rampart maybe 2m or so high and topped by a very slight bank. With such slight defences and the open end, I just don't see it as a fort. Something else was happening here. What ever uses it might have served, it's in a lovely setting. Overgrown Hazel coppice with a scattering of deciduous Oak and Ash, until recently the floor would have been carpeted in swathes of Bluebells and Ramsons, their remnants are all about. There's an active Badger set just within the enclosure, near the phallic Oak, evidence of other inhabitants and the sound of bird song fills the canopy. It's a very alive place. It's a place that calls you to sit and chill awhile.