Monument record MDO1364 - Old Warren, Littlebredy

A roughly oval enclosure on the northern end of a spur. This monument is also known as Dane's Camp, and has in the past been proposed as a possible site for King Alfred's burh of Bridian; this is thought to be extremely unlikely, with Bridport now considered a much more likely site.

Possibly unfinished hillfort reused as a Saxon Burgh. {3}

Old Warren earthwork on the N end of a spur (583 feet OD) consists of a scarp 8-10 feet high with a broad outer berm, bounding the half oval end of the spur; the scarp turns in slightly where a trackway crosses it and this trackway is continued along the spur to the S. For part of its length it is sunk and there are traces of a bank on part of its NE side. About 220 yards S of the N scarp are slight traces of another to the w of the trackway curving around as though to join the main scarp on the W The name Brydian, occurrng in a list of burghal hides dating probably from early in the C10th, has been identified with Bredy, and this earthwork may be the remains of one of Alfred's burhs, perhaps never completed. <2>

This site is as described in Authy.2 except that the central rackway consists of two rather mutilated banks approximately 10.0m apart and each averaging 0.2m high, with the track between them. At the N end a small platform occurs without the scarp. The scarp averages 3.0m high and 4.0m wide and is very flinty. Whether this is some form of revetting could not be determined. The whole area is grass covered. The position of the earthwork is a good defensive one, although it is not now in a defensive state, and is apparently unfinished. It is unlike Iron Age hillforts being a single scarp with no defence on the neck of the spur. <3>

Danes Camp or Old Warren is a `battered and mutilated hill fort covered by traces of plough ridges dating from the C13th and C18th'. It is almost certain `that it was the site of Alfred's burh set up between Wareham and Exeter'. <4>

Aerial photography and archaeological field work suggest that Old Warren was an Iron Age univallate hillfort. On the basis of the name `Brydian' used in a grant from Littlebredy to Cerne Abbey of 987, some authorities sugest that Old Warren was adapted as a burh in the C9th-10th, and is the Brydian mentioned between Exeter and Wareham in the Burghal Hidage. However, recent fieldwork in conjunction with documentary research suggests that Bridport was the site of the burh. <6>

The Old Warren univallate hillfort is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs <8> and was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project. The prehistoric enclosure is crossed by a later trackway and surrounded by an extensive medieval field system.

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1:2500 scale, 1902 (Map). SWX1197.

SY58448850) Old Warren (Earthwork) (NAT)

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 38 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(4) OLD WARREN, earthwork on the N. end of a spur (583 ft. above O.D.) 650 yards S.W. of the church, consists of a scarp 8 to 10 ft. high with a broad outer berm, bounding the half-oval end of the spur; the scarp turns in slightly where a trackway crosses it and this trackway is continued along the spur to the S.; for part of its length it is sunk and there are traces of a bank on part of its N.E. side. About 220 yards S. of the northern scarp are slight traces of another to the W. of the trackway curving round as though to join the main scarp on the W. The name Brydian, occurring in a list of burghal hides dating probably from early in the 10th century, has been identified with Bredy and this earthwork may be the remains of one of Alfred’s burghs, perhaps never completed.’

<3> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 31-Mar-1955 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<4> Taylor, Christopher C, 1970, The making of the English landscape: Dorset, 185 (Monograph). SWX1082.

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1982, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1980, 106 (Serial). SDO80.

<6> Bailey, C J, 1982, The Bride Valley : the story of the past, with photographs of the present, 9-10 (Monograph). SWX1298.

<7> Lock, G, and Ralston, I, 2017, Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland [ONLINE], EN3614 (Digital archive). SDO17130.

<8> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 3099-100 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11648.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1410345 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 27 2023 12:12PM