Monument record MDO44881 - Rectangular pit, probably a grave, on Blackbush Down, Cranborne

A rectangular pit, probably a grave, containing a Beaker was excavated in 1890 by Pitt Rivers. No human remains were found, although Pitt Rivers speculated that the bones had failed to survive in the sandy soil. Other finds included a few flint flakes and cores. Pitt Rivers located the site to Blackbush Down, but offered no more precise location.

A grave, containing a bell-beaker (Clarke, type E), flint flakes and cores, apparently unmarked by a mound, was recorded, but not precisely located, by Pitt-Rivers on Blackbush Down <1-2>

(Blackbush Down - SU 0415). <1-3>

Pitt Rivers' account runs as follows: September 30th 1890 - "Mr Lawes brought in the fragments of a "drinking vessel," which had been found by Frederick Cook, who had been employed in the excavations at Woodyates, and who discovered it whilst digging a whole for sand, to make a keeper's hut, on Blackbush Down, part of Cranborne Farm. Next morning I went with Mr James to the spot, and found two pieces of pottery belonging to the vessel, which had not been sent in with the rest. Having sent for Cook, we dug around the spot, and found that it had been buried in an oblong grave, about 3 feet deep, 10 feet long, and 6 feet wide. The urn appears to have been buried in a hole, at the bottom of this grave, and is stated by Cook to have been found in an upright position, its rim three feet beneath the surface. No ashes or remains of bone were found in or near it or in the earth thrown out, which was carefully examined, but several flint flakes and a couple of flint cores, one flake being well formed, sharp and thin...were found by us in digging out the grave. The longitudinal axis of this irregularly formed grave was due north and south...There does not appear to have been any tumulus over it, and they probably selected a natural hillock to bury the skeleton, the bones of which had entirely disappeared, as might be expected in such a sandy deposit. In the surface soil, and on the surface surrounding this spot, we found several fragments of distinctly British pottery...and on the east side of the hill, there are traces of a circular bank or small rampart, which may have originally surrounded the hill...". Pitt Rivers does not offer any precise locational information either for the grave or the "bank/rampart". The latter may have been of quite recent date, or perhaps been associated with the extensive field system remains now visible only as cropmarks on Blackbush Down (eg SU 01 NW 25). <2>

<1> Pitt-Rivers, A H L F, 1892, Excavations in Cranborne Chase Volume III Bokerley Dyke and Wansdyke, Dorset and Wilts 1888-91, 240-1 (Monograph). SDO16713.

<2> Clarke, D L, 1970, Beaker Pottery of Great Britain and Ireland, 479, No 169 (Monograph). SDO18289.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 15 (Monograph). SDO129.

'A grave, containing a bell-beaker (Clarke, type E), flint flakes and cores, apparently unmarked by a mound, was recorded, but not precisely located, by Pitt-Rivers on Blackbush Down (Excavations III (1892), 240–1; Clarke, Beaker Pottery of Gt. Britain (1970), 479, No. 169).'

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 213583 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 8 2024 7:46PM