White Green Space

Maumbury Rings, Dorchester, Dorset. A public green space just outside the town centre, next to the railway station. Originally a nearly circular Neolithic henge, it was used as an amphitheatre by the Romans, an artilliary fort for the (half-hearted) defence of the town during the Civil War, a place for public hangings during the next couple of centuries, then as farmland. It survived a plan to drive a railway through it in the 19th century and is now a public open space, a place for local children to play and a venue for open air theatre, music, re-enactments, festivals etc. The grass on the henge is managed as chalk grassland for wildlife. And on the rare occasions when it snows, people get out their toboggans and trays and have fun on the slopes.