Monument record MDO37403 - Possible Prehistoric Boundary Ditch, Pimperne

A curvilinear ditch is visible on aerial photographs to the west of Pimperne village. It was picked up as a geophysical anomaly and subsequently excavated in evaluation trench 24 of the Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Water Transfer Scheme route. No dating evidence was recovered from the excavation, but it appears to be part of a complex of prehistoric enclosures and boundaries in this area. (The record for this monument has been created with support from Wessex Water). The linear feature is visible as a low earthwork on lidar imagery and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM Project.

A curvilinear cropmark is visible on a 2005 aerial photograph. [1]

Geophysical survey of the route picked up this feature as two linear positive anomalies (205, 206), which are indicative of infilled ditch features. The anomalies were oriented roughly E-W with a right-angled turn to the south at the west end. [2]

A section through this ditch (25002)was excavated in evaluation Trench 25 of the archaeological evaluation of the Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Water Transfer Scheme route. It measured about 0.9m wide and 0.26m deep with a rounded V-shaped profile. No dating evidence was recovered from its fill. [3]

The record for this monument has been created with support from Wessex Water.

The linear feature is visible as a low earthwork on lidar imagery [4] and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM 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 Marsh, B and Biggs, M, 2012, Geophysical Survey Report Corfe Mullen to Salisbury WTS (Unpublished document). SDO14089.

<3> Havard, T and Nicholl, M, 2013, Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Transfer Scheme, Wessex Water, Dorset and Wiltshire: Archaeological Evaluation, 16 (Unpublished document). SDO14094.

East/west orientated ditch 25002 (Fig. 47, Section 29) was located in the southern half of Trench 25, did not correlate with any geophysical anomaly and contained a single silty clay fill 25003 from which no artefactual evidence was recovered.

<4> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Nov 30 2022 6:01PM