Monument record MDO18016 - Late Iron Age field system at Flagstones, Dorchester

A series of shallow gullies defining a rectilinear field system oriented NE-SW found during the excavations at Flagstones. These fields were probably laid out in the 1st century BC.

Elements of a Late Iron Age ditched field system were found during excavations at Flagstones by Wessex Archaeology in 1987-1988, in advance of the Dorchester By-pass construction. A network of shallow gullies oriented NE-SW and NW-SE, defining a series of rectilinear plots was found over most of the excavation area. The following description is abstracted from the final published report on the site (1). The numbers in square brackets refer to context numbers quoted in the report.

The gullies were generally 0.2-0.5m wide and 0.03-0.25m deep and appeared to have silted up naturally. The gullies cut through the upper fills of the Flagstones enclosure segments but appeared to respect the area within the central ring-ditch. This suggests the ring-ditch still survived as a visible earthwork at the time of laying out the field system. One of the gullies was cut by Iron Age ditch [00011].

131 sherds of pottery ranging in date from the 1st century BC to the 3rd-4th century AD were recovered from the gullies, the majority from the earlier part of this period. Five medieval or post-medieval sherds were also recovered along with a small quantity of fired clay and animal bone.

The precise dating of this field system is not clear. On stratigraphic grounds (the relationship with ditch [00011]) it is in existence during the Late Iron Age. Its precise period of inception and of abandonment is not known.

National Monuments Record, NMR Monument Record, SY 78 NW 67 (Index). SDO9937.

Wessex Archaeology, 1987, Dorchester By-pass (Excavation archive). SDO9385.

Woodward, P J and Smith, R J C, 1987, Survey and excavation along the route of the Southern Dorchester By-pass, 1986-1987 – an interim note, 79-89 (Article in serial). SDO9381.

<1> Smith, R J C et al, 1997, Excavations along the Route of the Dorchester By-pass, Dorset, 1986-8, 27-48 (Monograph). SDO9379.

Record last edited

Mar 16 2015 10:50AM