The Romano-British settlement southwest of Badbury Rings lies in the hinterland of the major Iron Age hillfort and at the junction of several Roman roads (notably the road from Dorchester to Old Sarum and the route towards Hamworthy/Poole Harbour). Aerial photography and geophysics have revealed an extensive nucleated settlement of enclosures, trackways, and field systems, active broadly from the later 1st through the 4th century AD, representing a roadside agricultural community rather than a formal small town.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Its position at the Badbury road junction made it a locally important node linking the Durotrigian heartland of Dorset with the harbour at Poole and points east, suggesting a modest economic role in agricultural production and traffic along these routes. It exemplifies the dispersed civilian settlement pattern that grew up around the former hillfort once Roman administration shifted activity into the surrounding countryside.
Geophysical survey and cropmark mapping (including work associated with the National Trust's Kingston Lacy estate and RCHME) have plotted ditched enclosures, possible building platforms, and a dense field system; surface finds of pottery, coins, and tile attest occupation across the Roman period. No major modern excavation has been published for the settlement itself, so structural detail and chronology remain largely inferred from non-intrusive survey.
The Romano-British settlement southwest of Badbury Rings lies in the hinterland of the major Iron Age hillfort and at the junction of several Roman roads (notably the road from Dorchester to Old Sarum and the route towards Hamworthy/Poole Harbour). It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Romano-British settlement SW of Badbury Rings is classified as a Roman settlement — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Section of Roman road NW of Badbury Rings (0.2 km), Vindocladia (0.3 km), Section of Roman road near Badbury Rings (0.6 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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Research the area around Romano-British settlement SW of Badbury Rings