Monument record MDO23290 - Iron Age/Romano-British ditches and pits, The Leaze, Wimborne Minster

A series of linear ditches and several pits, containing significant quantities of pottery and worked and burnt flint. The pottery finds indicate a concentration of activity between around 50 BC and AD 50. Excavation of these features was limited to the extent of evaluation trenches. Consequently, the excavators could not determine the nature of the activity represented on this site.

The greatest density of archaeological features was found in Trench 1, situated at the closest point to the medieval settlement and adjacent to an extant bank and ditch; these were four separate linear features and a pit, dated by ceramic finds to the Later Iron Age - early Romano-British period. Trench 2 revealed three linear features of similar date. Trench 3 revealed two linear features and a small pit, which could not be dated by pottery finds.

There appears to be a concentration of later prehistoric and Romano-British activity in the vicinity of Trenches 1 and 2. Since the features observed were too deep to be affected by the proposed facilities, the authors did not attempt to consider the form or character of the activity represented, though they do note that one sherd of possible Corfe Mullen ware indicates that some of the activity may have been contemporaneous with the occupation of the Roman military site at Lake Farm, some 1.5km to the south west. They also note that the presence of worked flint of Bronze Age date across the site suggests activity here or in the vicinity.

<1> Whelan, J, 2004, An Archaeological Investigation at The Leaze, Wimborne Minster, Dorset (Scheduled Monument No.678) (Unpublished document). SDO11588.

Record last edited

May 22 2018 3:52PM