Badbury Rings

 archaeological site, hillfort, earthwork (archaeology), iron age, bronze age

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The large multivallate hillfort from the Iron Age is a Scheduled Monument, 1002679.

Dating from the Iron Age, a period spanning the years from 800 BC to immediately prior to the Roman occupation in AD 43, the hill fort at Badbury Rings was constructed on a site that was certainly occupied from much earlier times. This can be seen by the four Bronze Age round barrows. The hill fort itself consists of three concentric, circular ditches that protect a large inner sanctuary. Badbury Rings is believed to have been one of several settlements in the area belonging to an ancient Dorset tribe known as the Durotriges.

During the Roman period, a Romano-British settlement existed to the south and west of Badbury Rings, and a little farther to the southwest along the Roman road was founded the town of Vindocladia, and a Roman fort.