Monument record MDO3123 - Maiden Castle Long Mound, Winterborne St Martin

A mound 1790 feet long flanked by parallel side ditches 60 feet apart. Visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs. The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

Neolithic long mound some 546 metres in length, comprising a bank of earth between two parallel ditches. The ditches are 19.5 metres apart. It follows a slightly curving east-west course across the interior of Maiden Castle. Richard Bradley had suggested that the section of the bank barrow immediately west of the earliest Iron Age rampart (and thus just outside the causewayed enclosure (SY 68 NE 7)) had originally been a more conventional long barrow before being considerably extended in both directions. The RCHME survey appears to support this: this section of the barrow, 65 metres long and 15 metres wide, is considerably higher than the remainder of the monument. However, only excavation could demonstrate chronological precedence for any given section of the monument. The three elements of the monument also show differing alignments, and are separated by sections without a bank. The contour survey shows that for the whole of its length the barrow is set on a false crest, varying from some 10 to 20 metres north of the summit of the ridge, suggesting that it was deliberately. It appears not to have performed a funerary function, but may have acted rather as a symbolic barrier or territorial divide. It has been excavated on at least three occasions - by Mortimer Wheeler in the mid-1930s, by RJC Atkinson in 1951, and by N Sharples in 1985-6. It was surveyed by RCHME in 1984-5 by RCHME. Wheeler encountered some post holes, which he felt were Neolithic and therefore associated with the barrow structure. Two intrusive Saxon inhumations were also found just below the surface at the east end of the barrow. One was a supine burial with its head to the west. Grave goods including a seax and knife were recovered and indicate a seventh or eigth-century date for this burial. The second burial had been mutilated and dismembered, and did not have any grave goods. Radiocarbon dating suggests a 7th-9th century date for this burial. Nrhe summ

The only two portions of this mound which remain surveyable are centred at SY 66938850 (where it is 70.0m long and 20.0m wide) and at SY 67108842, the south east extremity of the mound (where it is 40.0m long and 20.0m wide). The maximum height is 0.4m. Resurveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. (3) jgb

The site was surveyed as part of the Maiden Castle project, for further information see archive collection (4).

Full excavation report. (5-6)

Addition bibliographical references (7-8).

Two Saxon inhumations were recorded, located just below the surface at the east end of the barrow. One was a supine burial with its head to the west. Grave goods including a seax and knife were recovered and indicate a seventh or eigth-century date. The second burial had been mutilated and dismembered, and did not have any grave goods. Radiocarbon dating suggests a 7th-9th century date for this burial. (9)

A unique Neolithic burial mound 1790 feet long flanked by parallel side ditches 60 feet apart. Visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs {1}. The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

National Record of the Historic Environment, 452139 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<1> Wheeler, R E M, 1943, Maiden Castle, Dorset (Monograph). SDO17278.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1952, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1951, 101 (Serial). SDO51.

<3> Atkinson, R J C, 1953, Neolithic Long Mound at Maiden Castle. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 74, 36-38 (Article in serial). SDO20528.

<4> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY 66928850) Neolithic Long Mound (NR)

<4> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<5> Meaney, A L, 1964, A Gazetteer of Early Anglo-Saxon burial sites, 81 (Bibliographic reference). SWX4310.

<6> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 432-433 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(23) MAIDEN CASTLE LONG MOUND (SY 68 NE; 66608855–67128842; Figs. p. 494, opp. p. 498, Plate 213), is a unique Neolithic burial mound, 1790 ft. long, flanked by parallel side ditches, 60 ft. apart; it is nearly three times as long as bank barrow Broadmayne (19). It lies within the ramparts of the great hill-fort, Winterborne St. Martin (142), at 430 ft. above O.D. on a saddlebacked hill forming the W. end of a broad low ridge of Upper Chalk. It is sited to the N. of the crest, and some 600 ft. from its E. end its alignment changes from N.W.-S.E. to W.N.W.-E.S.E. and follows the contour of the hill; it thus seems deliberately placed so as to be wholly visible from the lower ground to the N. (see Lanceborough Barrow Group (AH)). The long mound was built over the filled up ditches of the W. side of the causewayed camp (see under Hill-forts, Winterborne St. Martin (142)), and has in turn been cut by the ditch of the first-phase hill-fort. A length of 1000 ft. on the W. was apparently destroyed as early as the 1st century A.D., and ploughing from at least the 17th century has reduced it further. It was examined by R. E. M. Wheeler in 1936 and 1937, and in 1951 R. J. C. Atkinson made a small cutting across the W. section.
The W. part of the mound is now barely visible. From immediately N. of the W. entrance of the hill-fort it runs E.S.E. as a very low, rounded scarp for about 1000 ft.; it then continues for 190 ft. as a well-defined mound 60 ft. across and up to 4 ft. high. East of the ditch of the first-phase hill-fort it is over-ridden by the remains of the hill-fort rampart and continues S.E. for a further 500 ft., very spread and rounded and rarely more than 2 ft. high. The flanking ditches do not return round the ends of the mound; the S. ditch is largely undetectable on the ground, and the N. appears as a slight shelf. The W. end of this ditch is covered by the inner rampart of the final hill-fort.
Wheeler's excavations (Fig. opp. p. 498, Plate 213) showed that the ditches were parallel and on average 60 ft. apart except at the change in direction where the distance was rather less. They were mainly regular, steep-sided and flat-bottomed, 5 ft. to 6 ft. deep, 12 ft. to 15 ft. across at the top and 7 ft. to 11 ft. across the bottom. The stratification was fairly uniform. The rapid silt and a black hearth layer overlying it at many points contained sherds of Windmill Hill ware only, with ox bones occurring at the E. ends of both ditches. Above this the filling included Peterborough sherds, and the upper layers contained occupation material associated with Beaker, Rinyo-Clacton and Early Bronze Age wares. A band of clay represented the turf and humus which sealed the ditch between the Early Bronze Age and the Iron Age, and the filling above this was riddled with Iron Age pits. The mound below the hill-fort rampart was preserved to a height of 5 ft. and its 'turf-line' was continuous with that sealing the Early Bronze Age filling of the ditches. Occasional post-holes attributed to the Neolithic period occurred along the inner margin of the ditches, and four post-holes at the extreme E. end of the mound suggested a concave revetment. Immediately W. of this, on the axis of the mound, was an oval pit containing Windmill Hill pottery, limpet-shells and bone fragments. Also on the main axis, 74 ft. from the E. end, was a primary inhumation of a young adult male, the skeleton showing evidence of extensive mutilation, including trepanning, immediately after death; 30 ft. to the S.E. were two crouched inhumations of small children with a small Windmill Hill cup. E. of these, just below the surface, was an intrusive pagan Saxon burial (see also p. xlix, n. 2).
The cutting by R. J. C. Atkinson across the W. section suggested there had been some destruction during the Iron Age and substantial levelling by the mid 1st century A.D.
(R. E. M. Wheeler, Maiden Castle (1943), 18–24, 86–9; R. J. C. Atkinson, Dorset Procs. LXXIV (1952), 36–8.)'

<7> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 11-JUN-1980 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<8> Corney, M, Dunn, C, McOmish, D, and Bowden, M, RCHME Field Investigator's comments, RCHME Field Investigation 1984-1985 (Unpublished document). SDO20346.

<9> Sharples, N M, 1991, Maiden Castle Excavations and field survey 1985-6 (Monograph). SDO10017.

<10> Cherryson, A K, 2006, Gazetteer of Early Medieval Sites (Unpublished document). SDO17464.

<11> National Monuments Record, 25-JUL-1996, NMR SY6688/281 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11811.

<12> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<13> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, AF0832712 RCHME: Maiden Castle, Dorset (Excavation archive). SDO20489.

<14> English Heritage, AF1322513 EH: Maiden Castle, Dorset (Excavation archive). SDO20490.

<15> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 615760 (Index). SDO14738.

Wheeler, R E M: Maiden Castle, Dorset. A collection of 612 copied photographs relating to excavations at Maiden Castle by the Society of Antiquaries from 1934 to 1938. A number of the photographs were used in the collection were used in the report but many remain unpublished. The collection also contains photographs of other Dorset sites: Waddon Hill; Maumbury Rings; Fordington Down; Fordington Down and Dorchester City Wall, West Walk.Condition : SATISFACTORYBibliographic Reference: 1) 1943, Number XII: Maiden Castle, Dorset

<16> Historic England, Historic England Archive (Index). SDO14738.

832716 Maiden Castle/ink survey. Also 2 plastic copies and a photographically produced version at 1:1500 with added letraset (see 832716A)
875710 Maiden Castle, East end overlay/survey plots
875725 Maiden Castle, south-west part/survey plots
875735 Maiden Castle, western part/pencil survey
875746 Maiden Castle, eastern part/pencil survey
875768 Maiden Castle, west end internal detail/pencil survey
899076 Maiden Castle, long barrow and part of north-western rampart/pencil survey
915599 Maiden Castle
915614 Maiden Castle
832716 Maiden Castle/ink survey. Also 2 plastic copies and a photographically produced version at 1:1500 with added letraset (see 832716A)
875710 Maiden Castle, East end overlay/survey plots
875725 Maiden Castle, south-west part/survey plots
875735 Maiden Castle, western part/pencil survey
875746 Maiden Castle, eastern part/pencil survey
875768 Maiden Castle, west end internal detail/pencil survey
899076 Maiden Castle, long barrow and part of north-western rampart/pencil survey
915599 Maiden Castle
915614 Maiden Castle
AF00019 Maiden Castle, Dorset, photographs for audio guid

Record last edited

Jan 16 2025 7:25PM