Figsbury Ring () is an 11.2

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

biological Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England, notified in 1975. It is owned and managed by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

Earthworks

Within the wider SSSI mentioned above, the earthworks of Figsbury Ring are sub-circular and enclose 6.4 hectares of grassland on a chalk ridge in Wiltshire to the north east of Salisbury, in the parish of Firsdown, at NGR SU188338. It is yet to be fully investigated. Small portions of the site were excavated in 1924 by Ben and Maud Cunnington, as it was their belief that the site was the remains of an Iron Age

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

. Superficially, this description of an earthwork with exterior ditch would seem appropriate, but the presence of an enigmatic inner ditch has led many archaeologists to doubt this interpretation. This ditch is separated from the outer rampart by a

berm A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of Soil compaction, compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a b ...

of up to 30 metres in width and, to many, it seems likely that the site actually began as a late

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

henge A henge can be one of three related types of Neolithic Earthworks (archaeology), earthwork. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ditches ...

. A small geophysical survey was carried out by Anthony Clark and John Gater in 1981 to determine whether or not an earth bank was ever associated with the inner ditch. The results of this survey were inconclusive. In 1982, the finds from the Cunningtons' excavations were reappraised by Margaret Guido and Isobel Smith. Several artefacts, notably grooved ware and Beaker pottery, established that there had been occupation at the site much earlier than the period proposed by the Cunningtons. A further reappraisal of the artefacts was carried out in 2003/04 by Philip Dunn, a student at

Bournemouth University Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. The universi ...

. This confirmed Guido and Smith's findings and went on to identify a number of

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

artefacts that were diagnostic of Neolithic occupation at the site. Following on from this study, a large-scale

geophysical survey Geophysical survey is the systematic collection of geophysical data for spatial studies. Detection and analysis of the geophysical signals forms the core of Geophysical signal processing. The magnetic and gravitational fields emanating from the ...

was conducted which covered 46% of the interior using a fluxgate gradiometer. The results of this survey were, again, inconclusive, although no evidence was found for the existence of an inner bank. Traces of possible structures were detected and it was proposed that the site may have particularly early origins. Figsbury Ring Digital Terrain Model

When Figsbury was considered within the context of the wider landscape and a range of other nearby monuments, it appeared possible that the site may have begun as a

causewayed enclosure A causewayed enclosure is a type of large prehistoric Earthworks (Archaeology), earthwork common to the early Neolithic in Europe. It is an enclosure (archaeology), enclosure marked out by ditches and banks, with a number of causeways crossing ...

. This may then have been modified into a henge monument in the later Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. There is certainly sufficient evidence to state with some degree of confidence that the site was occupied (albeit temporarily or intermittently) towards the middle of the third millennium BC. Further modification of the site appears to have taken place during the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age.

In popular culture

Figsbury Ring features prominently in

E. M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author. He is best known for his novels, particularly '' A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910) and '' A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous shor ...

's 1907 novel, ''

The Longest Journey ''The Longest Journey'' () is a 1999 Adventure game, point-and-click adventure video game, written by Ragnar Tørnquist, developed by Norwegian studio Funcom, and released on Microsoft Windows in November 1999; an iOS version was later develope ...

'', renamed the Cadbury Rings (the surrounding area is called Cadford). The narrator of the novel speculates as to whether the structure was British, Roman, Saxon, or Danish, and suggests it is a tomb concealing ancient dead soldiers and buried gold. In the novel, the area between the rings is planted with mangel-wurzels and there is a tree growing in the centre of the inner ring.

References

Natural England citation sheet for the site
(accessed 31 March 2022) * "Defining the Circle: A Multidisciplinary Evaluation of Figsbury Ring" – dissertation by Philip Dunn, submitted to Bournemouth University in 2004
English Heritage listing of investigations

Earthworks

In popular culture

References

Further reading