A number of years ago, there were no cars in Lymington. Actually, at the time there was no Lymington either, but that’s neither here nor there. What there was around here were open fields, a few tracks and a whopping big settlement which is now called Buckland Rings. If you stand in the middle and block your ears, you can almost feel what it may have been like, back in the Iron Age.
According to a book on Lymington I bought the other day, there appears to be no direct link between the people that lived at Buckland Rings in the Iron Age and the people who settled in Lymington a few thousand years later. If you stand and listen to the noise all around you, I think the book is correct.
I took the girls to the Rings today as Mirinda was having lunch with Sophie. Having checked the OS map, it was obviously not a long walk, so we set off after lunch. And it was pretty pleasant as it mostly consisted of public footpaths, though we had to cross two roads, one of which was quite scary coming back.
But enough moaning…Buckland Rings is amazing. And a great resource for walkers and dog owners alike. And cyclists who like going a bit off-road.
Speaking of dog walkers, I met a lady with a small poodle/Jack Russell cross called Poppy. She and her husband moved to Lymington when they retired in 2020 and love it. He’s rather keen on yachting, so the harbour is ideal for him.
She told me that the family in the house next door to her are Swedish. They moved to Australia with their job, had a family, then, after 14 years, moved to Lymington. I wouldn’t have thought there’d be a combination so much like ours but, I guess, there is.
We walked and talked for a while before she headed off one way while I went the other. I wound up at the entrance down by the A337. This is where three iron statues have been placed. They look fantastic. Well, from behind they do. Sadly, they have been placed in such a way as to only be appreciated from the middle of the A337. The photo below is the best I could manage.
The three figures were made by artist Katie Surridge. She drew inspiration from the Danish early Iron Age Gundestrup Cauldron. She used the repoussé technique and similar, to hammer the iron in much the same way as the original inhabitants would have.
Katie is a qualified blacksmith (among other things) and would have smelted her own iron to make the figures. So, it’s such a pity a walker with a couple of small dogs can’t get a proper good look at them. Though, I’m sure, plenty of motorists appreciate them as they whizz by.
By the by, I’d never heard of the Gundestrup Cauldron before today. It’s in the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen and is clearly an excellent reason for a couple of days visit.
I should explain the blue sky in the panorama at the top of this post. The weather was actually horizon to horizon clouds with the possibility of rain. Then, just as I sat at the top of a hill to take the photo, the clouds parted, and the sun came out. And so it remained for the rest of our walk.
There is a lot to explore at the Rings, so I can guarantee we’ll return.
