Woolbury
{{Short description|Iron Age hillfort in Hampshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox ancient site
|name = Woolbury
|native_name =
|alternate_name =
|image = Woolbury Ring, Stockbridge Down - geograph.org.uk - 100453.jpg
|alt =
|caption = Woolbury Ring
|map_type = Hampshire
|map_alt =
|map_size =
|location = Hampshire
|region =
|coordinates = {{coord|51.1157|-1.4571|display=inline,title}}
|type =
|part_of =
|length =
|width =
|area = 16 acres
|designation1 = Scheduled monument
|designation1_number = 1003531{{NHLE |num=1003531 |desc=Woolbury Ring, Stockbridge |grade=scheduled|access-date=22 December 2024}}
|designation1_offname = Woolbury Ring, Stockbridge
|epochs = Iron Age
|cultures =
|dependency_of =
|occupants =
|event =
|excavations =
|archaeologists =
|condition =
|ownership =
|public_access = part National Trust, part private land
|website =
|notes =
}}
Woolbury, or Woolbury Ring, is the site of an Iron Age univallate hillfort on Stockbridge Down, Hampshire, England.
Description
The site is described as a strong hilltop camp covering {{cvt|20|acres}}, with a single bank and ditch, and has commanding views over the surrounding area. The bank and ditch are well preserved to the west, the bank being {{cvt|9|ft}} high and {{cvt|16|ft}} above the bottom of the ditch. The eastern side has been ploughed out, and the ditch only remains to the north and south. The entrance is on the western side; the interior is down to permanent pasture.{{cite web |url=https://www.hants.gov.uk/hampshiretreasures/vol09/page075.html |title=Volume 9 (Test Valley South) |date=3 December 2010 |orig-year=2007 |website=Hampshire Treasures |publisher=Hampshire County Council |access-date=22 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605091945/https://www.hants.gov.uk/hampshiretreasures/vol09/page075.html |archive-date=5 June 2011}} Only the southwest rampart (which includes the original entrance) is in National Trust ownership; the rest is private land.{{cite web |url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?x=438100&y=135300 |website=The Megalithic Portal |title=Woolbury – Hillfort in England in Hampshire |access-date=22 December 2024}}
The site is designated as a scheduled monument.
There are a number of other archaeological sites in the area, including a Bronze Age bowl barrow mound of approximately {{cvt|40|m|order=flip}} in diameter and {{cvt|1.5|m|order=flip}} in height at {{gbmapping|SU395363}} and recorded in an Anglo-Saxon charter as Heardulfe's Hlaewe or Heardulfe's Barrow.{{cite journal |journal=Archaeological Journal |volume=83 |date=1926 |first=G. B. |last=Grundy |page=173 |title=Saxon Land Charters of Hampshire, with notes on Place and Field names (3rd series) |url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-1132-1/dissemination/pdf/083/083_091_253.pdf |access-date=22 December 2024}}{{cite journal |journal=Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club & Archaeological Society |volume=14 |url=https://www.hantsfieldclub.org.uk/publications/hampshirestudies/digital/1930s/vol14/Grinsell_pt3.pdf |first=L. V. |last=Grinsell |title=Hampshire Barrows |pages=31, 351 |access-date=22 December 2024}} The area is now subject to ploughing. In addition, several other tumuli are to be found south of the hillfort.
Location
The site is at {{gbmapping|SU381353}}, east of the village of Stockbridge, in the county of Hampshire. Danebury hillfort lies close by to the west, over the River Test. The hill has a summit of {{cvt|158|m|order=flip}} above ordnance datum (AOD).
White horse and cross
On the southern ramparts of Woolbury Ring is a hill figure of a horse. Whilst there are 17 white horse hill figures in England, with nine being nearby in Wiltshire, this is the only example in Hampshire. The horse was constructed crudely of rough flints, painted white and pushed into the ground to form the shape of the horse. The earliest documentation of the horse is in 1846. The horse for many years was covered by the surrounding bushes but in 1999, the site was cleared so the horse become visible again.{{cite web|url=http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/wool/wool.htm|title=Woolbury Horse|first=Mark|last=Hows |access-date=22 December 2024}}
There was also a hill figure of a cross nearby, only a few yards from Winchester Road, constructed using the same method.{{cite web|url=http://www.wiltshirewhitehorses.org.uk/others.html|title=Wiltshire White Horses: Non-Wiltshire white horses |access-date=22 December 2024}} This was lost in 1944.{{cite web|url=http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/lost/wool.htm|title=Woolbury Cross|first=Mark|last=Hows |access-date=22 December 2024}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}