Monument record MDO45130 - Sub-circular earthwork enclosure, Sixpenny Handley

A sub-circular earthwork enclosure known as 'Church Barrow' or 'Church Hayes' on the southern approach to the Woodcutts Romano-British settlement (MDO6059), variously interpreted in the past as a "circus" or an amphitheatre. It is visible as an approximately semi-circular embanked depression between 93 feet and 130 feet across, orientated roughly southeast-northwest. Pitt Rivers' excavations at Woodcutts in 1884-5 included cutting a section across this feature. This showed that while the earthwork banks clearly post-dated the ditched trackway that runs northwest towards Woodcutts (the northeastern ditch runs beneath the bank), both ditches clearly start to diverge as they approach Church Barrow from the southeast. The southwestern ditch starts to turn westwards to avoid the site before terminating abruptly, and then continuing beyond the earthwork to the northwest. The northeastern ditch however continues beneath the bank, following its curve before straightening and then continuing to Woodcutts in parallel again with the other ditch. Thus, Church Barrow postdates the trackway ditches, but something clearly preceded the Church Barrow earthwork. Dating evidence is poor. Roman pottery was found in the trackway ditches and beneath the earthwork bank, but nothing to date the earthworks themselves. Pitt Rivers regarded the Church Barrow earthworks as post Roman, though clearly replacing something of Roman origin. More recent interpretation (of which there is surprisingly little) associated Church Barrow with the latest, 3rd phase of occupation at Woodcutts, though evidence in favour is weak. Hawkes (1947) describes it as "an oval earthwork like a small amphitheatre" as well as a "small but solid amphitheatre", while RCHME conspicuously avoid calling it anything but Church Barrow. At present, the site can be regarded only as later- or post-Roman, and of uncertain function.

(ST 96451797) Church Barrow (NR). <3>

'Church Barrow' or 'Church Hayes', small but solid earthwork amphitheatre of Phase III (see main record). It was erected over the ditches of the southern approach road to the settlement, and pottery beneath its embankments included samian ware and New Forest colour-coated sherds.

Listed by Allcroft as a Roman circus. <2, 4-5>

Earthwork typical of those described as circuses, commonly associated with Romano-British sites in Sussex. It is grass-covered with an average height of 1.7m, and consists of two crescentic mounds, the
ends of each pointing inwards to the bivallate trackway over which it lies. Its good condition may be due to restoration by General Pitt-Rivers. <6>

<1> Royal Archaeological Institute, 1867, Archaeological Journal 24, 161-70 (Serial). SDO19077.

Austen, JH. Notes on some vestiges of Roman occupation in Dorset.

<2> Warne, C, 1872, Ancient Dorset, 22 (Monograph). SDO10094.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 25 inch scale map, 1901 (Map). SDO18020.

<4> Royal Archaeological Institute, 1919, Archaeological Journal 76, 96-132 (Serial). SDO18345.

Allcroft, AH. The Roman Circus in Britain: some new identifications.

<5> Royal Archaeological Institute, 1947, The Archaeological Journal 104, 42, 48 (Serial). SDO18401.

Hawkes, CFC with S Piggott. Britons, Romans and Saxons round Salisbury and in Cranborne Chase (pp27-81)

<5.1> Pitt Rivers, A H L F, 1887, Excavations in Cranborne Chase near Rushmore, on the borders of Dorset and Wilts. Vol. 1: excavations in the Romano-British village on Woodcuts Common, and Romano-British antiquities in Rushmore Park, 23-5, 207-8 (Monograph). SDO18399.

<6> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 08-APR-54 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<7> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 68-9, [plan opp. page 69] (Monograph). SDO129.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209830 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 19 2022 9:57AM