Monument record MDO2515 - Prehistoric ditch, Stinsford

A ditch recorded during work on the Eagle Lodge to Forston Trunk Main in 1984. The ditch was U-shaped in section and around 3 metres wide and 1 metre deep, cut into chalk on an eroded slope and sealed by later deposits. No dating material was found but the archaeologists who recorded this feature felt it was of probable prehistoric date, and an enclosure or property boundary.

SY 6978 9163. A ditch at least 6.0m wide and 1.5m deep with shallow sloping sides was cut by a water trunk main. No dateable material was recovered, which may indicate that it was a prehistoric enclosure or property boundary. <1>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1985, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1984, 115-116 (Serial). SDO84.

‘… Related to the colluvium and the strip terraces in Coker’s Coombe were two large ditches which were observed and recorded in the pipe-line section. These two ditches could be seen to run roughly north-east to south-east with the contours and along either side of the coombe.
Ditch at SY 70069158: Large ‘U’ profile ditch c. 1 metre deep and 3 metres wide cut into chalk on eroded slope. Filled with fine clay silts and chalk wash at base partially sealed with chalk and soil deposits derived from either a chalk quarry immediately to the east or from the strip terracing which still survives along this side of the coombe (refer previous). … No dateable material was recovered from these ditches but on the basis of the upper silt soils and the absence of Roman and Medieval material, they can perhaps be placed in the prehistoric period and interpreted as enclosure or property boundaries.’

<2> National Record of the Historic Environment, 868666 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 8 2023 3:00PM