Battlefields›Roman Assault on Badbury Rings Hillfort
Roman Period

Roman Assault on Badbury Rings Hillfort

44
England
Era
Roman Period
Battle Type
Siege
Location
England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Durotriges
VS
Victor
Legio II Augusta (Rome)
Outcome
Archaeological evidence (mid-1st-century AD ballista bolts, a javelin head found stuck in chalk beside the Roman temple site, a ballista spearhead found c.500m away, and a baked-clay sling shot at the inner rampart) points to a Roman military action against the hillfort during the conquest of Dorset; a Roman road was later built past the north-east side of the hillfort linking Lake Farm fort to Hod Hill.
The Battle

History & Significance

Roman Assault on Badbury Rings Hillfort was a Roman siege, the investment of a fortified position, fought in England in 44. Legio II Augusta (Rome) prevailed over Durotriges. Archaeological evidence (mid-1st-century AD ballista bolts, a javelin head found stuck in chalk beside the Roman temple site, a ballista spearhead found c.500m away, and a baked-clay sling shot at the inner rampart) points to a Roman military action against the hillfort during the conquest of Dorset; a Roman road was later built past the north-east side of the hillfort linking Lake Farm fort to Hod Hill.

Confirmed battlefield location
The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Roman Assault on Badbury Rings Hillfort lies on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.

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This page covers Roman Assault on Badbury Rings Hillfort. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside scheduled monuments and everything else the record holds within a few miles:

Overview
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Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Domesday
The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
LiDAR
Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Roman Assault on Badbury Rings Hillfort

Wayside cross 70m north of St Michael's Church
Wayside cross 70m north of St Michael's Church
Scheduled monument · ~2.5 mi

Wayside cross 70m north of St Michael's Church is a medieval stone cross located in Dorset, England. The monument dates from the medieval period and represents a form of wayside religious marker that would have served both devotional and practical functions within the local landscape, such as mar…

Chris Downer / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Badbury Rings
Badbury Rings
Scheduled monument · ~2.9 mi

Badbury Rings is a hillfort of Iron Age date located near Wimborne in Dorset. The monument comprises three concentric ramparts with external ditches, enclosing an approximately circular interior space of some three hectares, and represents a substantial defensive work typical of later prehistoric…

Simaron / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Causewayed enclosure and Iron Age defended settlement with outworks called Buzbury Rings
Causewayed enclosure and Iron Age defended settlement with outworks called Buzbury Rings
Scheduled monument · ~3.8 mi

Buzbury Rings is a multiphase prehistoric monument located near Tarrant Hinton in Dorset, comprising a causewayed enclosure of Neolithic date overlain by an Iron Age hillfort with substantial defensive outworks. The site displays the characteristic interrupted ditch system typical of Neolithic ca…

Mike Faherty / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Pimperne Long Barrow
Pimperne Long Barrow
Scheduled monument · ~4.1 mi

Pimperne Long Barrow is a Neolithic burial monument located in Dorset, England, dating to the early Bronze Age period or earlier Neolithic era. The barrow survives as an elongated earthwork mound, characteristic of long barrows constructed during the fourth and third millennia before the present,…

Dormouse14 / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Wayside cross 130m north of Crawford Farm
Wayside cross 130m north of Crawford Farm
Scheduled monument · ~4.5 mi

Wayside cross 130m north of Crawford Farm is a medieval wayside cross located in Dorset, England. The monument survives as a standing stone with carved cross features, representing a category of marker common throughout medieval England, typically erected at roadside locations to serve devotional…

Chris Downer / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Medieval standing cross 50m east of St Peter's Church
Medieval standing cross 50m east of St Peter's Church
Scheduled monument · ~4.7 mi

The medieval standing cross situated fifty metres east of St Peter's Church is a stone cross of the type commonly erected in English parishes during the medieval period, serving both religious and communal functions. The monument stands in the parish of [location in Dorset] and represents the tra…

Chris Downer / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Roman buildings N of Witchampton Mill
Scheduled monument · ~1.1 miles
Remains of medieval buildings ('Abbey buildings')
Scheduled monument · ~1.1 miles
More from this era

Other Roman Period Battles

Roman Assault on Maiden Castle 43 AD
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Dorset, England
Vespasian's assault on Calleva Atrebatum
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Hampshire, England
Roman Assault on Maiden Castle (East Gate)
43
England
Vespasian's Campaign against the Durotriges
43
Dorset, England
In the same landscape

Battles near Roman Assault on Badbury Rings Hillfort

Possible Arthurian battle - Badbury Rings
500
~1.4 miles away
Battle of Blandford
1781
~3.6 miles away
Aethelwold Revolt and Seizure of Wimborne 899
899
~5.1 miles away
Hod Hill Artillery Bombardment
44
~6.3 miles away
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