More information : (SD 8864 3300) Camp (NAT) Ring Stones (NAT). Oven & Quern found 1886 (NAT). (1)
Roman camp (Ringstones) is fifty yds square, with a small camp its eastern side about thirty ft square. An oven and a Roman quern were found between these two camps in 1888. (2)
In 1925 trial trenches were cut through the surrounding mound and ditch at various points, and the entrance was stripped. The larger enclosure had a cobbled floor, and the entrance was also originally heavily cobbled, with water worn boulders; a limekiln, (the circular foundations of which were found at a depth of 5-6 ft) appeared to have no essential connection with the original earthwork and is probably identical with the "Roman oven" reputedly found in 1888. (3)
Portions of the walls of the fort though overgrown and infilled are still traceable along with the ditch. Ruins of buildings are visible within the fort, especially near the south western corner, where they stand 5 ft high, but buried in soil; the remains of a tower are buried in rubbish. (4)
Near the south eastern corner are the remains of an exterior building or tower 49 ft square, joining the main wall. The gateways are nearly opposite each other, and the ditch appears to have been over 20 ft wide. (5)
Surveyed at 1:2500. (6)
Scheduled as two Romano-British farmsteads, one partially overlying the other. (7)
Ring Stones was surveyed by English Heritage field investigators in May 1999 as part of the National SAMs Survey Pilot Project. The principal remians are those of a rectilinear enclosure, measuring approximately 40m by 40m, which is defined by a stony bank, 0.5m high, and an external ditch. In places stones can be seen protruding through the turf, including rubble up to 0.6m in length. The two opposing entrances are situated in the south-eastern and north-western sides. The only internal features are a semi-circular scarp, 0.5m high, possibly a building platform and two possible lime kilns (described below).
At least two other rectilinear enclosures - both adjoining the eastern corner of the main enclosure - survive as stony scarps between 0.3m and 0.7m in height. The larger of the two is 15m by 24m internally and displays an inturned entrance on its north-western side. The smaller enclosure is 10m by 12m internally and appears to have an entrance in its south-eastern corner. Separating these 2 enclosures is a slight ditch which also continues the line of the ditch on the north-eastern side of the main enclosure. One end of a field drain has been inserted into the ditch, which may account for the size of this feature in relation to the other earthworks.
To the north east of the main enclosure are a series of linear scarps and banks which may be the remnants of a trackway between two other enclosures now mostly destroyed. The monument as a whole represents a Romano-British settlement with additional enclosures.
A number of later lime kilns have been constructed in side or near the enclosures. The first of these has been inserted into the easten angle of the ditch and is the one described by authority 2; it is 1.2m deep, 3m deep and displays fragments of fire-reddened stone in its surface. A pair located 80m north-east of the main enclosure, at SD 8870 3305, survive as a circular and an oval depression in the ground, each with a maximum width of approximately 8.5m, surrounded by an outer stony bank. Also outside the main enclosure, a possible kiln appears to have been inserted into the perimeter of one of the other enclosures; defined by a low bank it measures 2m in diameter. Inside the main enclosure are two other possible kiln sites, one in the eastern angle, the other near the centre. The former measures 1.9m in diameter, the latter a maximum of 2.9m. (8) |