Monument record MDO39432 - Curvilinear gully, Littlebredy

A curvilinear gully recorded in 2011 during observation of test pits connected with new boreholes associated with the Kingston Russell Water Treatment Works. The curvilinear form of the gully and the lack of associated finds were felt to indicate a date earlier than the Iron Age and that it may have been related to a circular building, though it would be unusual for a prehistoric domestic structure to occur so close to barrows.

A two phase curvilinear gully was recorded in Test pit 5. The earlier cut varied from a shallow, splayed U-shaped profile over 1.10m wide to a steep-sided U-shaped profile over 0.25m wide, with depths ranging from 0.27m to 0.18m below the upper surface of the natural chalk. The filling of this feature was a chalk-rich silt derived from sustained weathering. It was cut on its outer edge by a V-shaped gully varying in width between 0.55m and 0.57m filled with a more richly organic silty clay with sparse chalk inclusions.

The archaeologists on site considered that the first gully, though very clearly defined, may have been a natural feature, possibly due to solution within a weaker area in the chalk. The character of the filling of this feature was consistent with formation prior to cultivation of the area. The second gully was more regular in form with a filling suggested the incorporation of ploughed soil, and was considered to be archaeological. Its curvilinear form and lack of associated finds were felt to indicate a date earlier than the Iron Age and that it may have been related to a circular building, though it would be unusual for a prehistoric domestic structure to occur so close to barrows.

This feature is situated within, but may not be related to, a sub-rectangular enclosure of unknown date recorded from aerial photographs.

<1> Tabor, R, 2012, BO428: Water Treatment Works, Kingston Russell, Winterbourne Abbas, Dorset. An Archaeological Watching Brief (Unpublished document). SDO14084.

Record last edited

Sep 22 2017 3:48PM