| Hambledon Hill | |
|---|---|
 Child Okeford and Hambledon Hill seen from west | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 192 m (630 ft) |
| Prominence | 140 |
| Parent peak | Win Green |
| Listing | HuMP |
| Coordinates | 50°54′45″N2°13′19″W / 50.91250°N 2.22194°W /50.91250; -2.22194 |
| Geography | |
  Hambledon Hill Hambledon Hill shown within Dorset | |
| Location | Child Okeford,Dorset, England, UK |
| Parent range | Cranborne Chase |
| OS grid | ST845126 |
| Topo map | OSLandranger 194 |
| Geology | |
| Rock age | Cretaceous |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Walk |
Hambledon Hill is a prehistorichill fort inDorset, England, in theBlackmore Vale five miles northwest ofBlandford Forum. The hill itself is achalk outcrop, on the southwestern corner ofCranborne Chase, separated from theDorset Downs by theRiver Stour. It is owned by theNational Trust.
Its earliest occupation was in theNeolithic when a pair ofcausewayed enclosures were dug at the top of the hill, one smaller than the other. They were linked by a bank and ditch running northwest–southeast. Twolong barrows, one 68 m (223 ft) in length, also stood within the complex and a third enclosure is now known to underlie later earthworks. In all, the area of activity covered more than 1 km2 (0.39 sq mi).[citation needed]
Excavations in the 1970s and 1980s byRoger Mercer produced large quantities of Neolithic material. Environmental analysis indicated the site was occupied whilst the area was still wooded with forest clearances coming later, in theBronze Age. Thecharcoal recovered seems to have come fromtimber lacing within the Neolithic earthworks.[citation needed]
Radiocarbon analysis gives a date of 2850 BC. At least oneskeleton, of a young man killed by an arrow was found, seemingly connected with the burning of the timber defences and suggesting at least one phase of violence. A singlegrape pip and a leaf fragment is evidence ofvine cultivation and the occupants seem to have traded with sites further to the southwest.[citation needed]
The ditches of the enclosures also contained significant quantities of pottery as well asred deer antler picks used to excavate them. Human skulls had been placed right at the bottom of one of the enclosure ditches possibly as a dedicatory or ancestral offering. Animal bone analysis suggests that most of the meat was consumed in late summer and early autumn, possibly indicating seasonal use of the site. Different material was found in different areas of the site suggesting that Hambledon Hill was divided up into zones of activity. The original interpretation was that the large causewayed enclosure was used as amortuary enclosure for theritual disposal of the dead and veneration of the ancestors with attendant feasting and social contact taking place in the smaller enclosure.[citation needed]
Little remains of the Neolithic activity and the site is more easily identified as a prime example of anIron Agehill fort. It was originallyunivallate but further circuits of banks and ditches were added increasing its size to 125,000 m2 (1,350,000 sq ft). Three entrances served the fort, the southwestern with a 100 m (330 ft) long hornwork surrounding it. Hut platforms can be seen on the hillside. The site appears to have been abandoned around 300 BC possibly in favour of the nearby site ofHod Hill.[citation needed]
Hambledon Hill is the first in a series of Iron Age earthworks,[1] which continues withHod Hill,Spetisbury Rings,Buzbury Rings,Badbury Rings andDudsbury Camp. The Iron Age port atHengistbury Head forms a final Iron Age monument in this small chain of sites.
TheClubmen were a third force in theEnglish Civil War, aligned to neither crown nor parliament, but striving to protect their land from being despoiled by foraging troops of either side. They armed themselves with clubs and agricultural implements and gathered in large numbers to protect their fields, especially in Dorset. Between 2,000 and 4,000 of them encamped on Hambledon Hill in August 1645. There were large numbers of Cromwell's troops in the area at that time, after the siege ofSherborne Castle. Cromwell ordered that the Clubmen be dispersed and his well-equipped New Model Army soon drove them away on 4 August. The leaders were arrested but Cromwell sent most home saying they were 'poor silly creatures'.[2][3][4]
In September 1876, author Thomas Hardy visited the hill fort returning to his cottage in Sturminster Newton and almost got lost in the evening twilight:
"Coming back across Hambledon Hill (where the Club-Men assembled, Cromwell) a fog came on. I nearly got lost in the dark inside the earthworks, the old hump-backed man I had parted from on the other side of the hill, who was going somewhere else before coming across the earthworks in my direction, being at the bottom as soon as I. A man might go round and round all night in such a place."[5]
The hill is now aNational Nature Reserve (NNR) with common plants includingmilkwort,salad burnet,horseshoe vetch,squinancywort,pyramidal orchid andwild thyme. Rarer species includebastard toadflax,meadow saxifrage,early gentian anddwarf sedge. Butterflies includedingy skipper,grizzled skipper,chalkhill blue andAdonis blue.[6]
In August 2014, Hambledon Hill fort was acquired by theNational Trust for £450,000. The money to buy the hill had come from aNatural England grant and a legacy gift left to benefit Dorset countryside.[7] The hillfort is a Scheduled Monument,[8] as is the adjacent Neolithic causewayed camp.[9]
Singer-songwriterGordon Haskell wrote a song about Hambledon Hill for his albumHambledon Hill in 1990.[10][11]
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Media related toHambledon Hill at Wikimedia Commons