Monument record MDO2810 - High Cank, Up Cerne

An earthwork in the form of a ditch two metres wide and up to 0.4m deep with an outer bank enclosing a circular area around 10 metres in diameter with an entrance and causeway on the eastern side. The bank is composed of flint nodules; it measures about 3 metres across and up to 0.4m high. Thought to be a Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age hengiform monument.and/or funerary monument. Traces of a slight mound have been recorded in the central area but all that is visible now is a depression, possibly the result of excavation, surrounded by dumps of upcast soil. In the past this monument has also been interpreted as a possible round barrow.The feature is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs and current Environment Agency lidar imagery and was digitally plotted during the Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

Resembles a disc barrow, having the bank on the outside of the ditch and traces of something resembling a disturbed mound in the centre. There is a well defined causeway at east, 8 feet wide. The central mound has a deep hollow in the centre. An old countryman told Leslie Grinsell that the local belief was that it was used for bull fights. <2>

The name 'High Cank' is still applied to this earthwork which comprises a circular platform at natural ground level, a ditch and outer bank. On the east side there is a break in the outer bank with a corresponding causeway across the ditch. The platform is 8.0m in diameter and no longer has a clearly defined central mound but simply an excavation hollow, 2.0m in diameter and 0.2m deep with a slight rim of upcast. The ditch is 2.0m wide and 0.2m deep with the outer bank 3.0m wide and 0.3m high. Although surrounded by arable the earthwork remains in good condition. This hengiform work belongs to a class with a wide distribution in North Scotland and Wales. The small dimensions suggest a burial rather than a ritual/ceremonial purpose. Surveyed at 1:2500. <4>

The feature is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs and current Environment Agency lidar imagery. The monument as visible on a 1947 aerial photograph has an outer bank and an inner ditch, overall just over 22m by 21m. A causewayed entrance is visible on the northeast side, the bank has a partial break or is slightly reduced on the north side. Internally there are no clear features but the centre presents as a circular platform on the 1947 aerial photograph, possibly having a slightly disturbed surface and with a small pit or depression broadly central within the monument. <8, 9> The feature was digitally plotted during the Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 87 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(6) EARTH RING, on High Cank ¼ m. N.N.W. of the church, consists of a ditch with an outer bank and a single entrance on the E. (for plan see preface, p. xxxii). The total diam. of the work is about 74 ft. and the bank rises at most some 3 ft. above the bottom of the ditch. There are some traces of a slight mound, much disturbed, in the middle of the ring.’

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 174 (Monograph). SDO132.

<3> Ordnance Survey, c 1962, Ordnance Survey 1:2500 map, epoch five (Map). SDO13903.

ST 65720319) High Cank (NAT) Earthwork (NR)

<4> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, 28-OCT-78 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

<5> Harding, A F, with G E Lee, 1987, Henge monuments and related sites of Great Britain: air photographic evidence and catalogue, 136, Site 057 (Monograph). SDO17363.

<6> DCMS, 1999, Scheduled Monument Notification 1999, 19-MAR-1999 (Scheduling record). SDO17351.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 198873 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<8> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1975 FP 1049 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20741.

<9> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Jan 16 2025 6:41PM