title: Ball Hill, Dorset
text: # Ball Hill, Dorset
  
  At 251 metres, Ball Hill is one of the highest hills in the county of Dorset, England, and is on the Wessex Ridgeway.
  
  ## Location
  
  The summit of Ball Hill lies at the eastern end of a short ridge running from east to west. Its lower, western end is known as Church Hill. To the south a short spur drops steeply to the hamlet of Plush in Watcombe Bottom. To the north the land descends more gradually to the vale of Lydden. The hill is about 4 kilometres southeast of Buckland Newton, 6 kilometres west-northwest of Cerne Abbas and 9 kilometres west of Milton Abbas. Other prominent hills in the vicinity include Lyscombe Hill (261 m) to the southeast on the other side of the hamlet of Folly.
  
  ## History
  
  There is evidence of prehistoric settlement on almost every hill in the vicinity, with a hill fort on Nettlecombe Tout (a spur of Lyscombe Hill) to the east, cross dykes and tumuli on the flanks of Lyscombe Hill to the southeast and a tumulus and field system on Church Hill to the west.
  
  