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Melbury Beacon is a Bronze Age circular enclosure situated on Melbury Hill in Dorset. The monument consists of a roughly circular earthwork defined by a substantial bank and ditch, which would originally have served defensive or demarcatory purposes typical of Bronze Age settlement and ritual sites. The beacon element of its name reflects its later reuse, a common pattern for prehistoric monuments which were repurposed as beacon stations during the medieval and early modern periods. The site remains an important archaeological record of Bronze Age land use and territorial organisation in the Dorset landscape.
Melbury Beacon and circular enclosure on Melbury Hill is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1016893. View the official record →
Melbury Beacon is a Bronze Age circular enclosure situated on Melbury Hill in Dorset. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1016893.
Melbury Beacon and circular enclosure on Melbury Hill is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1016893.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Hod Hill camp and Lydsbury Rings (9.2 km), Lazerton Farm causewayed road (9.4 km), Two bowl barrows in Hinton Bushes 850m north of Pimperne Long Barrow (9.5 km).
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any address in Britain — drawing on scheduled monument data, Domesday records, Roman heritage, PAS finds and medieval history to reveal the complete story of a landscape.
Research the area around Melbury Beacon and circular enclosure on Melbury Hill