Monument record MDO1940 - Prehistoric or Romano-British settlement, Piddletrenthide

Area centred at ST 71010205. Within the area delineated are a number of irregular hollows scooped back into terraces of IA/RB type lynchets. These terraces are set one above another on a SE-facing hillside. The area is grass covered and falls within part of an extensive IA/RB field system. Extending to the W from 'A' to 'B' is a fine example of a double lynchet trackway. It fades near 'A' and its impact upon the disturbed area is not clear.

At 'C', ST 70970210, is a grass covered hut circle of 10.0m in diameter, with a bank 0.2m high and 1.5m wide. The depression is 0.3m deep, and the entrance is on the SE.

There are very few rabbit scrapes in the area, and only two fragments of coarse pottery were found.
The hollows, hut circle and trackway suggest an unenclosed RB settlement, but the paucity of finds and irregularity of the hollows make it by no means certain. <1>

Comparable to the RB habitation site on Church Hill, Findon, Sussex. <2>

Prehistoric or RB settlement, description and plan. Associated with RCHM Group (42); Celtic fields groups. <3>

This Iron Age/Romano-British settlement lies on a south east facing hillslope under pasture. It remains as described by authorities 1 and 3 and is generally well preserved. Poorly defined on OS air photographs <4.1-4.2>. Settlement surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD's ST 7001, 7002, 7101 and 7102, in conjunction with RCHM plan. <4>

ST 710020. Field system and settlement on West Hill, Plush. Scheduled.(See illust. for scheduled area). <5-6>

<1> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 14-FEB-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<2> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F2 JR 18-FEB-55 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<3> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 221 (Monograph). SDO136.

'(43) SETTLEMENT (710020), prehistoric or Romano-British, on West Hill in Plush, is sited at about 600 ft. O.D., below the shoulder of a hill and on a slope facing E. across a valley (Plate 192). The settlement lies among 'Celtic' fields (Group (42), p. 327) and is approached by a trackway from the S.W. Strip lynchets, part of the open fields of Plush (40), have cut into the lower part of the settlement and have destroyed part of one platform, but probably little more. Later cultivation intrudes into the area on the N. The three-acre core of the settlement is a series of platforms with flat or gently sloping floors cut into the hillside; from their shape, some of them appear to have accommodated circular rather than rectangular structures; the floor of one of the best preserved platforms measures 35 ft. by 25 ft. Associated with the platforms are larger areas where there has been little or no deliberate levelling; the shape and position of these areas suggest that they were part of the settlement and not merely fields. The double-lynchet trackway from the S.W., laid out over 'Celtic' fields which continued in cultivation, turns N. into an open space on reaching the settlement (cf. Winterborne Houghton (9)); thereafter it continues to the N.E. for a short distance.'

<4> Barrett, G, Various, Field Investigators Comments GB (Unpublished document). SDO17369.

<4.1> Ordnance Survey, OS 74/058/044 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17539.

<4.2> Ordnance Survey, OS 74/058/045 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17534.

<5> DOE, 1978, Scheduled Monument Notification DOE (IAM) AMs Eng 2 1978, 77 (Scheduling record). SDO17448.

<6> Department of the Environment, DOE (IAM) Ancient Monuments Record Form, 1969 (Index). SDO17347.

<7> Ross, R and Firth, A, 1996, West Hill, Plush, Dorset. Archaeological Appraisal (Unpublished document). SDO14292.

<8> Ross R and Firth A, 1996, West Hill, Plush, Dorset. Archaeological Appraisal: Revised Draft (Unpublished document). SDO14291.

<9> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 881417 (Index). SDO14738.

RCHME. Settlement at Plush, Piddletrenthide, Dorset: Copy of this in ink on plain paper with typescript for publication purposes. Bibliographic References : 1) Pt 2, Monument (43).

<10> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 882414 (Index). SDO14738.

RCHME. Settlement at Plush, Dorset: Microfilmed 1979Bibliographic References : 1) Pt 2, Monument (43).

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 202023 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 8 2022 9:36AM