Monument record MDO18671 - Wareham House, Alington Avenue, Dorchester; Prehistoric pits

Evidence for Prehistoric Pits was discovered during groundwork for the laying out of a new garden, construction of a cucumber frame and the planting of apple trees at the rear of Wareham House between 1884 and 1892. Several pits were found, some filled with a black material like charcoal. One ‘elliptical’ pit was. 0.61m wide and 1.21m long, perhaps for rubbish, contained animal bones and shells of carnivorous snails; another was filled with red earth and contained an antler pick. At least one pit was interpreted as a possible Durotrigian pottery kiln. Sherds from the topsoil in the vicinity of the pits included Samian Ware.

Found partly during groundwork for the laying out of a new garden, construction of a cucumber frame and the planting of apple trees at the rear of Wareham House between 1884 and 1892; and partly during the construction of the adjacent Wareham Bridge railway cutting in 1884. The original discovery of the pits has been described in the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club (1). The discoveries were also described in relation to nearby Roman burials in the RCHME Dorset volume 2 (part 3)(2).

Several circular pits were found in 1884 filled with chalk, 1.2m in diameter and 1.5m deep with concave base. One had a levelled floor of baked clay perforated with 0.01m holes and a Durotrigian storage jar on a flat stone marked round with soot. Some of these details are suggestive of a pottery kiln. A 1st century brooch came from another pit. Some pits recorded in 1892 were filled with a black material like charcoal. One ‘elliptical’ pit was. 0.61m wide and 1.21m long, perhaps for rubbish, contained animal bones and shells of carnivorous snails; another was filled with red earth and contained an antler pick. Sherds in the topsoil included Samian Ware (2).

The dating evidence for the pits suggest a Neolithic date for one from the antler ‘horn’ (1). This object was later described in the RCHME Dorset volume as an antler ‘pick’ (2) and presumably dates from the Neolithic. A later re-examination of the finds from Wareham house led Christopher Sparey Green to describe the pits as Early Prehistoric, Iron Age and Early Roman in date (3).

<1> Bankes, W A, 1893, The Recent Discovery of Human Remains at Wareham House, Dorchester. (Article in serial). SDO9801.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 575 (218a) (Monograph). SDO150.

<3> Sparey-Green, C, 1984, Early Anglo-Saxon burials at the ‘Trumpet Major’ public house, Alington Avenue, Dorchester (Article in serial). SDO9802.

Record last edited

Aug 28 2008 4:23AM