Neolithic landscape of Dorset
Away from home for this blog, I recently got to stay in the county of Dorset in the UK, and whilst I had a very very limited time to explore, the property I was in was very close to a fascinating neolithic landscape. Staying inland, the landscape isn't really different to that of Worcestershire with rolling farmland bisected by roads and in this case the busy A35 that every year ferries tourists like myself into Weymouth and Portland. However, unlike Worcestershire they have not destroyed all remnants of the past. There are a lot of features in one very small area but also more along the coast. Focusing on the area I was in, as that's really all I had time to explore, there was a long barrow, lots of bell barrows, a lone standing stone, and as I’m cheating and counting in a previous visit to the area, just down the road a really nice little stone circle.
This sort of landscape is what really fascinates me at a deep level. WHY here, why in this admittedly lovely part of Dorset some miles from the coast did ancient man decide to build all these things. All so close together. Some, it's assumed, to bury the dead, others perhaps to mark something on the landscape, some note that simply said ‘We were here’ but in mounds of soil and chalk and rock. Or was there another purpose, something we can’t even guess at 4000 years later. Something else that drove people really no different to me to dig and move earth and stone to leave all these things within easy walking distance (no A35 in those days).
Working backwards in terms of impressiveness, the Nine stones stone circle I’d actually seen on a previous visit is a small circle that suffers somewhat from being literally next to the busy A35 (that road features a lot in this blog).
Back to this visit, and despite the rest of the time having excellent weather, in the only hours I had to explore it was pissing with rain. So my pictures don’t really do it justice. The Long Bredy bank barrow is high up on the ridge that was coated in mist and drizzle when I was there. Other than the not all that far away Maiden Castle Bank Barrow, this is the longest bank barrow in the UK. Up to 12ft above the ground, flanked by two ditches. Its an atmospheric stop on top of the ridge.
Crossing back over the A35 there are several bell barrows (Martins Down Bell Barrows)
then a short walk to the lonely standing stone of Kingston Russel. This stone stands gloriously isolated in a field that's fenced off and full of cowslips.
At this point in the walk I decided it was time to go get warm and dry and get on with what I was actually there for, but a really nice short walk across this ancient landscape that raised many many questions.