Monument record MDO19346 - Bargates, Christchurch (site X17); Bronze Age ring ditch 1

Excavation at Bargates, Christchurch, during 1977 (site X17), revealed two Bronze Age ring ditches. Ring ditch 1 was totally excavated and consisted of a closed circular ditch, 0.3-0.6m deep. The primary and secondary ditch fill contained a single late Bronze Age sherd, some charcoal and 52 worked flints. Finds from the upper silts included six late Bronze Age sherds and two burnt flints. The monument is likely to represent the remains of an early-middle Bronze Age round barrow.

K. Jarvis directed an excavation at Bargates, Christchurch, during 1977-8 (site X17) in advance of development. The results were subsequently published in DNHAS monograph 5 (1).

The excavations revealed two Bronze Age ring ditches. Ring ditch 1 was totally excavated and consisted of a closed circular ditch, 0.3-0.6m deep. Where it had been cut into the natural sand the profile was V-shaped and deeper, where it was cut into gravels the profile was flat bottomed. The primary and secondary ditch fill contained a single late Bronze Age sherd, some charcoal and 52 worked flints. Finds from the upper silts included six late Bronze Age sherds and two burnt flints.

The pottery from the ring ditch therefore initially suggests a late Bronze-Age date. However, in view of the fact that the ditch filling was extensively disturbed by root and worm action not too much reliance can be placed on this. It is therefore suggested that the ditch may have been constructed in the early-middle Bronze Age and that the single late Bronze Age sherd in the primary silts is intrusive. Only two sherds of early-middle Bronze Age pottery were recovered from the entire site.

The original form of the ring ditch monument is conjectural but it is likely to represent the remains of a round barrow. It probably had a central mound since Saxon graves [7 & 8] were less than 0.15m deep whilst most graves averaged 0.30m deep. Furthermore, the early cut of medieval ditch [118] skirted the centre of the ring ditch.

The ring ditches were subsequently enclosed within a field system and then became the site of adjacent settlement in the 7th-8th centuries BC. This is at variance with other barrows in the Christchurch area and might suggest that the ring ditches actually represent settlement. The lack of occupation material from the ditch fills argues against this however.

<1> Jarvis, K S, 1983, Excavations in Christchurch 1969-80, 102-141 (Monograph). SWX4028.

Record last edited

Mar 21 2011 10:30AM