Maumbury Rings is a
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
henge
There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ...
in the south of
Dorchester town in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
(). It is a large circular earthwork, 85 metres in diameter, with a single bank and an entrance to the north east. It was modified during the
Roman period when it was adapted for use as an
amphitheatre
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
, and the site was remodelled again during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
when it was used as an artillery fort guarding the southern approach to Dorchester. The monument is now a public open space, and used for open-air concerts, festivals and re-enactments.
Description
Maumbury Rings is a roughly circular
henge
There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ...
situated close to the centre of Dorchester.
It has an internal diameter of around 50 metres.
The bank has an average width of 4 metres, and is around 5.6 metres high internally and 4.0 metres high externally.
A bulge in the earthworks to the southwest marks the site of a gun emplacement built during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
,
and the inner side of the bank was terraced on the east and west sides at this time.
There is no trace of the original internal ditch.
History
Neolithic
![Maumbury Rings entrance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Maumbury_Rings_entrance.jpg)
Maumbury Rings were excavated by
Harold St George Gray from 1908–1913.
The excavations showed that the site originated in the later
Neolithic period
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
.
The excavations revealed an internal ditch which comprised a series of deep shafts cut into the chalk. These number up to 45, and were up to 11 metres deep.
Eight shafts were fully excavated.
They contained various deposits including antler, animal and human bone, flints and carved chalk.
The latter represent human phalloi and may be evidence of a fertilty cult among the builders. A single
Grooved ware
Grooved ware is the name given to a pottery style of the British Neolithic. Its manufacturers are sometimes known as the Grooved ware people. Unlike the later Beaker ware, Grooved culture was not an import from the continent but seems to have de ...
pottery sherd was recovered from one pit, and a later
Beaker sherd was recovered from the fill of another pit.
The henge had a single entrance on the northeast side. It is recorded that a large stone was discovered during cultivation in 1849 to the west of the entrance, but it was reburied and has not been seen since.
Around 2 km due east are the faint traces of a larger henge known as
Mount Pleasant henge,
and archaeology has revealed the presence of another Neolithic enclosure known as
Flagstones
Flagstone (flag) is a generic flat Rock (geology), stone, sometimes cut in regular rectangular or square shape and usually used for Sidewalk, paving slabs or walkways, patios, flooring, fences and roofing. It may be used for memorials, headstone ...
near there.
In addition, when archaeologists were digging on the site of the Tudor Arcade/
Waitrose
Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...
development in the 1980s (around 800 metres northeast of Maumbury Rings) they discovered large timber
posthole
In archaeology a posthole or post-hole is a cut feature used to hold a surface timber or stone. They are usually much deeper than they are wide; however, truncation may not make this apparent. Although the remains of the timber may survive, most ...
s. The evidence suggests that they were part of a large Neolithic enclosure with a diameter of around 300 to 400 metres.
Red markings, denoting sites of some of the timber posts, can be seen in the car park of Waitrose.
Roman era
![Maumbury Rings wall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Maumbury_Rings_wall.jpg)
Maumbury Rings was remodelled in the
Roman period when it was adapted for use as an
amphitheatre
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
for the use of the citizens of the nearby Roman town of
Durnovaria
Durnovaria is a suggested spelling for the Latin form of the name of the Roman town of Dorchester in the modern English county of Dorset, amended from the actually observed Durnonovaria. Upon the assumption that the name was originally Brythonic ...
(Dorchester). The banks were lowered by around 3 metres, with the material produced piled onto the banks.
The interior was modified by the excavation of an oval, level arena floor, and the cutting of seating into the scarp and bank which was revetted with either chalk or timber.
Chambers were cut into the bank to the south-west and one on each side of the centre.
Finds found during the excavations include an uninscribed British coin, Roman pottery,
leg bones
Leg bones are the bones found in the leg. These can include the following:
* Femur – The bone in the thigh.
* Patella – The knee cap
* Tibia – The shin bone, the larger of the two leg bones located below the knee cap
* Fibula
The fibula ...
, coins, and a 2nd-century burial.
The amphitheatre may have been out of use by the mid-2nd century,
although objects found on the arena floor and elsewhere suggest activity in the 4th century.
Civil war
![Maumbury Rings secondary entrance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Maumbury_Rings_secondary_entrance.jpg)
Between 1642 and 1643 the henge was modified in response to the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
.
The site was used as an
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
fort by
Parliament supporters in order to guard the southern approach to Dorchester.
This involved the placing of a gun platform and a ramp on the southwest side, and the internal terrace was built.
An unfinished well near the northwest edge of the arena and finds of 160 lead pistol bullets on the east bank all date to this time, along with a ditch beyond the northern enclosure bank.
Later use
Its amphitheatre role was briefly revived in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, as a place of public execution. In 1685, at the close of the
Monmouth Rebellion,
Judge Jeffreys
George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, PC (15 May 1645 – 18 April 1689), also known as "the Hanging Judge", was a Welsh judge. He became notable during the reign of King James II, rising to the position of Lord Chancellor (and serving a ...
ordered eighty of the rebels to be executed here. In 1705
Mary Channing
Mary Channing ( née Brooks; May 1687 – 21 March 1706) was an English woman from the county of Dorset. Channing is known for being convicted of poisoning her husband and being burnt at the stake.
Biography
Mary Brooks was born in early May 16 ...
, a nineteen-year-old woman found guilty of poisoning her husband, was executed by strangulation and burning at the Rings.
Thomas Hardy used this event in his poem ''The Mock Wife'' and mentioned it in his 1886 novel ''
The Mayor of Casterbridge
''The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character'' is an 1886 novel by the English author Thomas Hardy. One of Hardy's Wessex novels, it is set in a fictional rural England with Casterbridge standing in for Dorchester in ...
'', as well as recording some details of his research into the event in his personal writings.
By the later 18th century, the enclosure was being used as farmland.
In 1846, the proposed alignment of the
Southampton and Dorchester Railway
The Southampton and Dorchester Railway was an English railway company formed to join Southampton in Hampshire with Dorchester in Dorset, with hopes of forming part of a route from London to Exeter. It received Parliamentary authority in 1845 and ...
was amended in order to protect the Rings.
The site today
The monument is now a public open space, and used for open-air concerts, festivals and re-enactments. Finds from the excavations are in the
Dorset County Museum.
References
External links
{{Commons category, Maumbury Rings
Maumbury Rings website
Roman Dorchester
Amphitheatres in Roman Britain
Stone Age sites in England
Tourist attractions in Dorset
Archaeological sites in Dorset
Henges