Monument record MDO3489 - Enclosure in Bowley's Plantation, Crossways

A roughly rectangular enclosure which survives as an earthwork within the plantation but has been ploughed away to the west. In 1970 the outer bank of the enclosure was recorded as 16 feet across and 4½ feet high, and the inner bank 15 feet across and 1 foot high above the interior. There appears to have been one original entrance, on the east side of th enclosure. Excavations by Norman Field in 1959 and 1960 showed that the ditch outside the outer bank was V-shaped and 6 feet deep, while pollen analysis indicated an open landscape at the time of construction.

(Centred at SY 76908798) Camp (OE) (1)

Only the part of this earthwork which falls within the plantation could be properly investigated; the remainder being under crops, and from a cursory examination, almost ploughed out.

The investigated section of the enclosure consists of two low spread banks with a medial ditch. The outer bank is more pronounced than the inner one. A causewayed entrance exists on the east side. No dateable evidence such as pottery was found within the enclosure, and its period and purpose are difficult to determine from the visible remains. While of similar size to the hilltop and valley enclosures found on the downland a few miles to the N, the presence of an outer bank is unusual, apart from its situation upon a gravel plateau with the consequent heath-type vegetation. The possibility of a moat cannot be overlooked but again the situation is poor, there is no stream to feed it, and for a dry moat it appears to be too small.

In short any definite evidence for classification can probably only be deduced from excavation of the site. (2)

Iron Age material from Bowley's Plantation. Two complete IA 'C' bowls (similar to Maiden Castle 186 and 187) were recovered by Messrs Field and Bowen of the RCHM from under the tumble of the bank of the earthwork, just below the pre-bank surface, at Bowley's Plantation. One of the pots contained a purplish deposit now being examined at the MOW laboratory. (5)
"Native vessels, Iron Age 'C' or early Romano-British, were found outside and in the ditch of an enclosure at Bowley's Plantation". (8)
Ancient Enclosure (NAT) - Unrevised detail. (4)

Earthwork (NR) - Revised detail. (9)

The part of the earthwork within Bowley's Plantation is as described in the OS field report of 1954, (2) and generally well preserved. The outer slope of the outer bank on the east side is now crumbling down the vertical face of disused gravel - workings.

The portion of the enclosure in the arable field on the west, is virtually ploughed out; only a faint and unsurveyable ground swelling being visible.

Published Survey (1:2500) revised on permatrace. (11)

SY 769880. Earthwork in Bowley's Plantation. Scheduled. (Only that part of the earthwork within the plantation is scheduled. (3, 10)

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1903 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred at SY 76908798) Camp (OE)

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 13-DEC-54 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Department of the Environment, Inspector of Ancient Monuments (IAM) Record Form, 16.5.57 (Scheduling record). SDO17470.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1929, Ordnance Survey Map 25, OS 25" (SY 7687) - 1958 (Map). SWX1185.

<5> Field, N H, 1959, Letter (N H Field 1.2.59) (Verbal communication). SDO17978.

<6> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1960, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1959, 102-3 (Serial). SDO59.

<7> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1961, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1960, 85 (Serial). SDO60.

'Pottery from the Earthwork in Bowley's Plantation, Owermoigne. In the Proceedings, vol. 18, p. 103, reference was made to parts of a vessel 'with a sagging base' recovered from the lower filling of the ditch, and which appeared to confirm the possibility of a medieval date for the enclosure, despite the discovery of two Durotrigian vessels close by. On closer examination the thirteen joining pieces proved to belong to the side of a carinated bowl, of which the base and rim are missing, in ordinary dark burnished Durotrigian ware. The vessel thus provides no confirmation of a medieval context for the enclosure, although this remains a possibility. Sherds from within the enclosure, on the other hand, have been shown to belong to a Bronze Age vessel.'

<8> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 603 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(36) ENCLOSURE, near-rectangular (SY 78 NE; 769880), partly survives in Bowley’s plantation at 200 ft. above O.D. on a plateau (Reading Beds) with ferruginous gravels and sandy clays. The W. part, outside the plantation, has been destroyed by ploughing, but the area enclosed was originally about ½ acre. On the E. is an outer bank, 16 ft. across and 4½ ft. high above a ditch of similar width, with an inner bank, 15 ft. wide and 1 ft. high above the interior. The single causewayed entrance, 10 ft. wide, is slightly S. of centre on the E. side.
Excavation by Mr. N. H. Field at C-D (Dorset Procs. LXXXI (1959), 102-3; LXXXII (1960), 85) showed the ditch to be V-shaped and 6 ft. deep below the outer bank. Sherds from a bowl in the primary silting were comparable in date with complete Durotrigian jars found upright in shallow pits immediately E. of the bank outside this point. Pollen analysis by Professor Dimbleby suggested open land when the earthwork was constructed and thus a medieval or later date. Its form is without any close parallel in the area to give further guidance on the date.’

<9> Ordnance Survey, 1929, Ordnance Survey Map 25, OS 25" (SY 7688) - 1972 (Map). SWX1185.

<10> Department of the Environment, 1978, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England (Vol 2), 83 (Monograph). SWX1687.

<11> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F2 JGB 07-DEC-79 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<12> Butler, C and Smith, M, 2014, Land South of Warmwell Road, Crossways, Dorset DRAFT (Unpublished document). SDO14631.

<13> Thomas, N, 2015, Land South of Warmwell Road, Crossways, Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO14632.

<14> Butler, C and Smith, M, 2016, Land South of Warmwell Road, Crossways, Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO14634.

<15> Historic England, Historic England Archive, CC74/00407 (Index). SDO14738.

PLAN OF ENCLOSURE, DESTROYED ON ITS WESTERN SIDE BY PLOUGHING AND WITH A CAUSEWAYED ENTRANCE ON ITS EAST SIDE. POLLEN ANALYSIS FOLLOWING EXCAVATION SUGGESTS A MEDIEVAL DATE

<15> McConnell, R, and Randall, C, 2017, Land south of Warmwell Road, Crossways, Dorset. An Archaeological Evaluation report (Unpublished document). SDO16249.

<16> Historic England, Historic England Archive, RCH01/093 (Index). SDO14738.

RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) A collection of archive relating to the Dorset inventory Volume Dorset II (South East). The archive consists of a wide range of material including original field notes, surveys, profiles, photographs and negatives, measured drawings, and publication proofs, and correspondence.

<16> National Record of the Historic Environment, 453867 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 4 2024 10:34AM