Ringsbury Camp

Ringsbury Camp is an Iron Age hill fort in Purton, Wiltshire. It stands on a rise of Corallian stone with views over Braydon Forest to the west and open countryside to the north and south. The fort has two lines of limestone banks and ditches enclosing about 3.4 hectares. The inner bank reaches 5 metres high and the outer bank 2 metres, with traces of an outer ditch. Builders used light limestone rubble known locally as ‘blood stones’, once thought to be darkened by battle but now attributed to weathering. Historians believe the fort served as a refuge during times of unrest rather than a permanent settlement. Its position near the old border of two British kingdoms made it a strategic outpost. Earlier Neolithic flint tools have been found inside, and an Iron Age coin is kept in Purton Museum. Andrew Breeze has proposed that Ringsbury was the site of the Battle of Mount Badon in the late 5th or early 6th century. The fort does not belong to the Ridgeway chain of hill forts, reinforcing its role as a local strongpoint. Today the scheduled monument lies within grassland pasture, with the southern and western ramparts covered in woodland. Several public footpaths lead to the site from Purton. Local people sometimes call it ‘The Roman Camp’, though it belongs to the Iron Age. The central area was once ploughed, which may have removed further archaeological traces. As part of Restrop Farm, it is also a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest.