Everywhere’s so wet at the moment.
Here is a picture I took last week of the eastern ramparts of Badbury Rings, located at the centre and highest point of the wonderful Kingston Lacy Estate in Dorset.
This is one of over 40 Iron Age hillforts cared for by National Trust in the South West. Each one chosen over 2000 years ago (not by NT, it’s only 118 yrs old)for its strategic location, as a place to live and defend. Amazing to think of the effort it took to dig deep ditches and heap up ramparts. There are three rings of these fortifications at Badbury.
Hillforts are great places to visit. Each perched on a hilltop or headland with lovely views across their surrounding landscapes. Imagine those who have been there before you.
The ground is soft and muddy. Winter is when the NT Rangers tend to carry out conservation work on ancient monuments. Cutting scrub and mending erosion scars. Even light vehicles cannot be used to mow the bramble and cut undergrowth in these conditions.
Even footfall can start to wear away the precious archaeological soil and affect the potential stories of past lives locked beneath the grass.
Archaeology National Trust SW 