Monument record MDO1836 - Romano British inhumation at Spring Bottom, Osmington

A Romano British inhumation burial was found in 1926 in a chalk pit at Spring Bottom. A bead rim beaker and some nails were also found. The position of the nails and the impression of wood in the rust of some of the nails suggest that the burial was in a wooden coffin.

Ringstead. An inhumation burial was found in 1926 in a chalk-pit at Spring Bottom. A shallow grave in Lower Chalk contained an extended skeleton with a one-handled bead-rim beaker of Romano-British coarse ware; iron nails in two lines by the skeleton, some with traces of wood, suggest a coffin. Objects are in Dorset County Museum. <1>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 603 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(44) RINGSTEAD (SY 78 SW). An Inhumation Burial was found in 1926 in a chalk-pit at Spring Bottom (74708210). A shallow grave in Lower Chalk contained an extended skeleton with a one-handled bead-rim beaker of Romano-British coarse ware; iron nails in two lines by the skeleton, some with traces of wood, suggest a coffin. Objects are in D.C.M. (MS. note in D.C.M.)’

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1994, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1993, 149 (Serial). SDO93.

‘RINGSTEAD FARM, NEAR RINGSTEAD, OSMINGTON.
The excavation of two evaluation trenches at the proposed site of a bunker silo (around SY 746822) revealed a sequence of colluvial deposits up to 4m deep. While there was no artefactual evidence to date these deposits, several episodes of activity are likely to be represented, possibly dating from the prehistoric period. The site lies close to the recorded discovery of a Romano-British burial, but not evidence for such activity was present in the evaluation trenches.’

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454440 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 6 2023 5:33PM