Monument record MDO3246 - Enclosure on Bronkham Hill, Winterborne St Martin

Remains of irregular earthwork enclosure on parish boundary with Portesham, possibly of prehistoric date. Also visible as an earthwork and cropmarks on aerial phtographs

Enclosure(?) irregular (SY 63308664), spans the parish boundary with Portesham, just below 600 ft above OD on the gravel-capped Bronkham Hill where it begins to dip east and falls sharply North immediately outside the earthwork. Only the North and part of the West side survive, forming an 'angle-ditch'. On the North the bank is downhill 6 ft across and 1 1/2 ft high above the silted ditch, 4 ft across. On the West bank is about 17 ft across, inside and 3 ft high above a ditch of similar width. Round barrow and two solution hollows lie inside this 'angle-ditch' which is probably prehistoric. <2>

The remains of the enclosure are as described by RCHM <2> north of the trackway but it is now completely ploughed-out south of the trackway. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. <3>

This feature is also visible as an earthwork and cropmarks on aerial phtographs <4-6> and was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY 63308664) Earthwork (NR)

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 507 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(143) ENCLOSURE (?), irregular (SY 68 NW; 63308664), spans the parish boundary with Portesham, just below 600 ft. above O.D., on the gravel-capped Bronkham Hill where it begins to dip E. and falls sharply N. immediately outside the earthwork. Only the N. and part of the W. side survive, forming an 'angleditch'. On the N. the bank is downhill, 6 ft. across and 1½ ft. high above the silted ditch, 4 ft. across. On the W. the bank is about 17 ft. across, inside and 3 ft. high above a ditch of similar width. Round barrow Portesham (39) (p. 467) and two solution hollows lie inside this 'angle-ditch', which is probably prehistoric.'

<3> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 26-FEB-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<4> Royal Air Force, 17-1-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 1065-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11925.

<5> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3293-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11893.

<6> 11-6-1978, NMR OS/78080 114-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11943.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452479 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 23 2025 12:57PM