Monument record MDO18432 - Poundbury Middle Iron Age Structure IA8

Evidence for a Middle Iron Age structure, was discovered during excavations at Poundbury. It was one of two huts belong to phase IID of the Middle Iron Age settlement on the eastern slopes of Poundbury Camp. It consisted of a very short length of surviving gully with proposed original diameter of 7.6m. An internal ring of six posts lay concentric with the gully. Another length of gully may represent an earlier phase of this structure. Together with structure IA3, this hut forms the first phase of unenclosed settlement on this site.Middle Iron Age Structure IA8 lay in the northern part of the Poundbury excavations, immediately inside the SW corner of the earlier Middle Iron Age enclosure. It survived as an outer ring slot abut 7.5m in diameter and an inner circle of concentric posts. This round house appears to have been contemporary with round house IA3 which lay just to the south and was part of the earliest phase of unenclosed Iron Age settlement on the slopes to the east of Poundbury Camp.

Found during the excavations directed by Christopher Sparey Green, for the Dorchester Excavation Committee, between 1966 and 1979 during development of the Grove Trading Estate on the eastern slopes of Poundbury Camp, Dorchester (1). The numbers in square brackets below refer to the context and feature numbers used in the published report and archive (1)(2).

Middle Iron Age structure IA8 was located in the northern part of the excavation area in Site E, to the north of the contemporary round house IA3, within the southwest corner of the earlier Middle Iron Age enclosure. The structure comprised an outer ring slot [E928], which only survived as a very short length of gully, defining a structure about 7.5m in diameter, with an inner concentric ring of post holes.

This round house appears to have been contemporary with round house IA3 which lay just to the south, forming part of the earliest phase of unenclosed Iron Age settlement on the slopes to the east of Poundbury Camp. A square pit [E613] lay to the north and may have been associated with this settlement.

<1> Sparey Green, C, 1987, Excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset 1966-1982. Volume 1: The Settlements, 12 (Monograph). SDO9630.

<2> Sparey Green, C, 1987, Excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset 1966-1982. Volume 1: The Settlements (Monograph). SDO9630.

<3> Farwell, D E and Molleson, T I, 1993, Excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset 1966-1980. Volume II: The Cemeteries (Monograph). SDO9538.

Record last edited

Aug 3 2010 5:29PM