The Priory Country House Hotel & RestaurantWareham Town Walls

<body background="http://theprioryhotel.users8.donhost.co.uk/shared/images/bgr.jpg" bgcolor="#ffffdd" text="#000000" link="#0000ff" alink="#ffff00" vlink="#000066"> <table border="0" cellpadding="5" summary=""> <tr><td bgcolor="#66ffcc" align="center"><a href="http://theprioryhotel.users8.donhost.co.uk/" Title="Home Page."><img src="http://theprioryhotel.users8.donhost.co.uk/shared/images/newlogo.gif" alt="Home Page." width="85" vspace="5" height="99" border="0"></a> <td rowspan="2" valign="top"><p align="center"> <div class="main"> <h1>Wareham Town Walls</h1> <p align=center>The ancient Saxon walls of the town are remarkably well preserved.<br> <img width=477 height=351 src="images/wwall1.jpg" alt="West wall" ><br>The spectacular western walls are within the modern town. </p> <p>The remaining walls are at their most dramatic on the west side of town, near the Hospital. We see a sudden grassy embankment which looks formidable enough but the walls were once a much greater obstacle. </p> <p>The wall would be surfaced with fresh earth. Grass would not have been permitted to grow on the earthwork as it gave too good a footing for an attacking force. The surface would be weeded, broken, and fresh earth (or worse) strewn overall. If you have ever tried to climb atop a loose sand-dune or up the slope of a ploughed field you will appreciate the difficulty such a barrier presents. </p> <table align=right cellpadding=5><tr><td align=center><img width=270 height=384 src="images/wwall2.jpg" alt="North wall" ><br>The south (inside) slope of the northern wall.</td></tr></table> <p>On top of the earthen wall was a palisade and on the palisade were the defenders. Wareham's walls were designed to bar axe and spear wielding infantry and to be defended by the same. The advantage of height meant that defenders could hurl spears at their attackers secure in the knowledge that few missiles would reach them in return. This contrasts with the much earlier great hillforts to the west like Maiden Castle that were elaborated into <cite>multivallate</cite> structures (they have a series of earthworks rising one above another with ditches between) because long-range slingshot was the missile to fear. </p> <p>Although the early history of the town is incompletely known it seems that the walls were not seriously tested when newly built. Instead, as so often happens in the case of strong defences, they were bypassed. The walls run nearly half a mile north from the River Frome enclosing three sides of a square, the fourth side being the river itself which was thought, wrongly as it turned out, to be a considerable defensive obstacle in its own right. The town fell more than once to seaborne invaders, Danes, who attacked upriver and avoided the main defences. </p> <p>The walls themselves were only frontally assaulted during the English Civil War 800 years after their building. Despite hasty reinforcement and additional outworks they proved ineffective against cannonfire and musketry and the town surrendered. The walls were lowered after this and masonry reinforcements were removed. The magnificent remains we see today are much reduced from their former glory. <br clear=all></p> <p align=center><img width=654 height=170 src="images/wwall3.jpg" alt="North wall" > </p> <p>The wall is still the northern boundary of the town. Here in the northeast corner, an area known as 'Bowling Green' the defenses are still strong. The slope of the wall is overgrown with scrub and small trees but the marshy valley of the River Piddle must be much as it was when the wall was built. No large army could have crossed that soft ground with equipment suitable for breaking the wall and as they emerged, exhausted from the mire they would have been easy targets for defenders above. <p><img width=361 height=209 src="images/wwall4.jpg" alt="North wall seen from outside" align=right hspace=10 vspace=4>And this is the view attackers would have seen. The north wall looking across the Piddle Valley. The wall itself is now a scrub-grown bank rising suddenly from the marsh. The roofs of Wareham can just be seen above the ancient defenses. </p> <p>Today the walls are a favourite Sunday afternoon walk for locals and visitors alike. The path is a little uneven in places on the eastern and northern walls and the going can be slippery after rain but it never gets really muddy. The western wall and parts of the other walls can be visited without leaving paved roads and some sections can be traversed by wheelchair. </p></div> <br clear=all><hr> <div class="foot"> <p align=right><small>The Priory Hotel, Church Green, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 4ND, UK<br> tel: +44 (0) 1929 551666<br> fax: +44 (0) 1929 554519<br> Email: <a href="mailto:reservations@theprioryhotel.co.uk">reservations@theprioryhotel.co.uk</a><br> WWW: <a href="http://theprioryhotel.users8.donhost.co.uk/">http://theprioryhotel.users8.donhost.co.uk/</a> </small> </p><p class="date"><small><a href="../shared/index.html">Last modified: Mon, 07 Apr 2003</a></small> </p></div> </td></tr><tr><td bgcolor="#66ffcc" valign="top"> <p><a href="../hotel/index.html" title="Hotel Services"><img src="../shared/buttons/hotels.gif" width="115" height="27" alt="Hotel Services" border="none"></a><br> <a href="../hotel/enq0.html" title="Enquiries"><img src="../shared/buttons/enq.gif" width="115" height="27" alt="Enquiries" border="none"></a><br> <a href="../dining/index.html" title="Dining"><img src="../shared/buttons/dines.gif" width="115" height="27" alt="Dining" border="none"></a><br> <a href="../premises/index.html" title="The Priory"><img src="../shared/buttons/priors.gif" width="115" height="27" alt="The Priory" border="none"></a><br> <a href="../touristinfo/index.html" title="Tourist Information"><img src="../shared/buttons/touinf.gif" width="115" height="27" alt="Tourist Info" border="none"></a><br> <a href="../touristinfo/wareh.html" title="Wareham"><img src="../shared/buttons/wareh.gif" width="115" height="27" alt="Wareham" border="none"></a><br> <a href="../touristinfo/wwalls.html" title="Wareham's Saxon Town Walls"><img src="../shared/buttons/walls.gif" width="115" height="27" alt="Town Walls" border="none"></a><br> <a href="../touristinfo/purbeck/purbeck.html" title="The Isle of Purbeck"><img src="../shared/buttons/purb.gif" width="115" height="27" alt="Purbeck" border="none"></a><br> <a href="../touristinfo/jurassic.html" title="The Jurassic (World Heritage) Coast"><img src="../shared/buttons/jurass.gif" width="115" height="27" alt="Jurassic Coast" border="none"></a><br> <a href="../touristinfo/local.html" title="Local sources of information"><img src="../shared/buttons/loclin.gif" width="115" height="27" alt="Local Links" border="none"></a><br> <a href="../touristinfo/tourist.html" title="Tourist Links"><img src="../shared/buttons/toulin.gif" width="115" height="27" alt="Tourist Links" border="none"></a><br> <a href="http://theprioryhotel.users8.donhost.co.uk/smap.html" title="Site Map"><img src="http://theprioryhotel.users8.donhost.co.uk/shared/buttons/smap.gif" width="115" height="27" alt="Site Map" border="none"></a><br> <a href="http://theprioryhotel.users8.donhost.co.uk/" title="Home Page"><img src="http://theprioryhotel.users8.donhost.co.uk/shared/buttons/home.gif" width="115" height="27" alt="Home" border="none"></a> </p> </td></tr></table> </body>