Woolbury Ring
Woolbury Ring, Little Sombornecounty:
coords:
Hampshire
SU381353
otherwise: welnabyrig, 947-14; Wolebury, 1553; Wulbury Hill, 1593; Worlbury Hill, 1817
WOOLBURY RING, earthwork in Little Somborne
Not clear. Possibly Old English 'fort of riches', with reference to treasure as often with barrows, but I have not otherwise come across 'wela'='wealth' in the plural, nor is 'wela' the normal word for loot in this sense. If it contains 'w(i)ellena'='of the springs/streams', there is a near parallel in 'Welbury' (Yorkshire, North Riding). However Woolbury Ring is nearly 2 miles from the nearest flowing water the river Test, and the valley which it dominates is dry. The Old English form is compatible with the genitive plural of a tribal name in '-e' but no appropriate one is known.
- ancient monument, hillfort - Kinges Somborne Hundred - Hamshire
Period - 1590s-1600s
