Monument record MDO18020 - Maiden Castle Farm ring ditch 02027

A ring-ditch 25m in diameter defined by a single apparently continuous ditch. No internal features were found but there was a slight suggestion of a former mound. Probably a ploughed out round barrow.

SY 6781 8931 (FCE) A rapid examination of air photography suggests the presence of a ring ditch, probably of Prehistoric or Roman date, visible being excavated c.300m east of Bush Road Cottages. <1>

Subsequent topsoil stripping revealed 3 further ditches, the internal diameters, from N-S,being 10m, 13m and 10m. No burials were found. All four ring-ditches were Bronze Age.

This feature was first recognised as a soilmark and the southwestern half was investigated by excavation by Wessex Archaeology in spring 1987 in advance of the Dorchester By-pass construction. Another quarter of this monument was exposed and recorded during topsoil stripping for road construction in summer 1987.

About three-quarters of Ring-ditch 02027 was exposed in total. It consisted of an apparently continuous ditch with steep sides and flat bottom 1.8m wide and 0.6m deep with an external diameter of 25.25m. It defined an internal area 22.25m diameter. The ditch was filled with primary chalk rubble and secondary silts.

No features were found within the ring-ditch other than a few small natural features. The former existence of a mound was suggested by the slight rise of 0.2m in the level of the chalk within the interior, probably indicating the protection from erosion by mound material. It is likely that this feature was the remains of a ploughed out round barrow. Its association with other ring-ditches (52034,52045, 52032) suggests that it formed part of a possible linear barrow cemetery.

Very few finds, other than struck flint of Middle-Late Bronze Age date was recovered from the ring-ditch. A very large quantity of worked flint was found in the upper soil fills, probably the remains of knapping waste, perhaps as a result of knapping on the edge of the barrow mound. 29 sherds of Roman pottery was recovered from the upper soil fills. The land snail evidence from the ditch fills suggested it was constructed in a very open and intensively arable landscape. <1-3>

<1> 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.

<1.1> Miller, Andrew, 1993, RCHME: AP Primary Recording Project, 12-FEB-1993 (Unpublished document). SWX1708.

<1.2> Boyden, J R, JRB 3421: 08, 15-6; JRB 3425: 16-7, 26-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20594.

<2> Wessex Archaeology, 1987, Dorchester By-pass (Excavation archive). SDO9385.

<3> Smith, R J C et al, 1997, Excavations along the Route of the Dorchester By-pass, Dorset, 1986-8, 53-55 (Monograph). SDO9379.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 983948 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 20 2024 5:02PM