Monument record MDO43919 - Iron Age ditched enclosure with natural mound, Pamphill

An elongated mound is visible as earthworks on lidar imagery. It appears to be enclosed by a ditch visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs to the east of High Wood, Pamphill. Excavation found the mound to be natural but the enclosure ditch to be Iron Age. It was digitally recorded during the Dorset Middle Stour AI&M Project.

A long flat-topped mound at Lat 50o 50' 13' N, Long 2o 1' 52' W is aligned from the N of E to S of W, and measures 115ft in length by 2ft high. It is 48ft wide at the E end and 24ft wide at the W end, and is bounded on all sides but the E by a ditch 15ft wide by 2ft deep, beyond which is a very slight outer bank. Two banks, flanked by continuations of the N and S outer ditches of the mound, extend eastwards from the NE and SE corners, and the whole surrounding area is very uneven.

Colonel Drew confirmed the opinion that the mound, although having features characteristic of a long barrow, could not be definitely classified as such. <1>

This mound, situated at ST 97790425, is as described above. It is 40.0m long by 22.0m wide at its E end and 13.0m wide at its W end, and is about a metre in height. The area has been ploughed and is pitted with irregularly shaped bumps and hollows. The mound may represent the remains of a mutilated long barrow. <2>

A low flat-topped mound projecting W from an enclosure forming part of a Romano-British settlement (ST 90 SE 2), and contained within its ditch. It is 115ft long by 2ft high, and tapers from 65ft in width at the E to 45 ft at the W. <3>

The mound was partly excavated from 1968-72 and found to be a natural mound accentuated by a deep ditch which is probabbly Iron Age in origin. Seven shallow post-holes and a pit containing a decapitated sheep were found which may indicate ritual usage. <4>

An elongated mound is visible as earthworks on lidar imagery <5>. It appears to be enclosed by a ditch visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs to the east of High Wood, Pamphill <6>. The mound was partly excavated from 1968-72 and found to be a natural mound accentuated by a deep ditch which is probably Iron Age in origin <4>. It was digitally recorded during the Dorset Middle Stour AI&M Project.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1940, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1939, 43-47 (Serial). SDO13165.

<2> Wrathall, Reginald, Field investigator's comments RW, F1 RW 19-MAR-54 (Unpublished document). SDO18449.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 52 (Monograph). SDO129.

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1982, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1981, 71-92 (Serial). SDO81.

<5> National Monuments Record, 15-APR-2002, NMR 21628/23 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18131.

<6> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209468 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2023 3:47PM