Monument record MDO37365 - Enclosure c750 metres north of Bishops Court Farm, Shapwick

A localised association of ditches possibly forming a coherent sub-divided rectilinear enclosure, visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs and partly recorded by geophysical survey. A series of rectilinear enclosures, possibly forming a settlement abutting the long linear described in MDO37361 was digitally plotted from aerial photographs during the Dorset Middle Stour Catchment AI&M Project. The record for this monument was created with support from Wessex Water.

A localised association of ditches, visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs dated 2005, possibly forming a sub-rectangular enclosure measuring some 120 metres by 110 metres, with a smaller internal sub-division. To the east and west sides there are straight/slightly curvilinear ditches aligned NNW-SSE; the shorter eastern side of the enclosure appears to comprise two parallel ditches, of which the outer is more substantial than the inner. Internally the south west corner of the enclosure seems to have been sub-divided by two short lengths of ditch, the western one perpendicular to the outer enclosure ditch and the eastern one angled at about 45 degrees, separated by a narrow break that may mark an entrance. The south side of the enclosure appears to be contiguous with a major east-west aligned boundary (MDO 37361) and may be integral with it. The north side of the enclosure appears to be open. [1]

Further details of this ditched enclosure complex were revealed during the geophysical survey of the route of the Wessex Water Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Transfer Scheme in 2012. The eastern side of the enclosure consists of two parallel linear positive anomalies (255) which confirm the cropmark evidence. Most of the course of the western side of the enclosure lay beyond the survey area, but its southern end consisted of a short length of ditch (248) with gaps to north and south, that also formed part of a small subrectangular ditched enclosure about 36 m by 38m across, with the southern part formed by a dog-leg in the linear boundary MDO37361 and the northern part by another length of ditch (253). A larger subdivision of the enclosure is formed of two short lengths of linear anomalies (251, 252). The northern half of this subdivision lay beyond the survey area. Within this sub-enclosure were a series of pit-like geophysical anomalies (254). To the south of the linear boundary MDO37361 was a narrow slightly sinuous linear positive anomaly (249) running along the same line as the western side of the small subrectangular enclosure (248), which may also be associated with this complex. [2]

The dating of this enclosure complex is not certain. However, it seems to form an integral part of the linear boundary MDO37361, which produced a single sherd of Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pottery from an evaluation excavation of its eastern end. This may indicate a possible date for the enclosure complex. [3]

A series of rectilinear enclosures, possibly forming a settlement abutting the long linear described in MDO37361 was digitally plotted from aerial photographs [4] during the Dorset Middle Stour Catchment AI&M Project.

<1> GetMapping, 2005, Digital vertical aerial photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDO12563.

<2> Marsh, B and Biggs, M, 2012, Geophysical Survey Report Corfe Mullen to Salisbury WTS, 28, Anomalies 247-255 (Unpublished document). SDO14089.

<3> Havard, T and Nicholl, M, 2013, Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Transfer Scheme, Wessex Water, Dorset and Wiltshire: Archaeological Evaluation, 12-13 (Unpublished document). SDO14094.

<4> Historic England Archive, 23-APR-2015, HEA 29560/039 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18302.

Record last edited

Aug 12 2022 1:00PM