Monument record MDO312 - Roman cist burial, West Hill, Bincombe

An inhumation burial, extended east-west with head to the west, lay in a cist lined at the sides and covered with flat limestone slabs. No dating evidence was found, but the style of the burial suggested a Roman date.

(SY 699849) Site of a cist burial turned up by the plough 1/4 mile south of the cross roads at Culliford Tree and
100 yds east of the road. Inspected 15-5-43. The exit contained an extended skeleton lying east-west. <1>

No surface indications of this site are to be seen in ploughed land. <2>

<1> Anon, 1943, File Dorset 3 L1 Dorset County Museum Notes Sketch Plan (anon c.1943) (Unpublished document). SDO19558.

<2> Swatridge, G C, Various, Field Investigators Comments GCS, F1 GCS 30-DEC-54 (Unpublished document). SWX1169.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 594 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(77) West Hill (SY 68 SE). An Inhumation Burial was found in 1943 during ploughing below the crest of the Chalk ridge (69968494). The adult skeleton, extended E.-W. with head to the W., lay in a cist lined at the sides and covered with flat limestone slabs, the top about 1 ft. below surface. There were no associated objects, but analogous burials in Dorset, where datable, are of the Roman period. (Unpublished note and photographs by V. F. M. Oliver, in D.C.M.)'

<4> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452708 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 27 2023 3:31PM