Monument record MDO4678 - Romano-British settlement on Shillingstone Hill, Shillingstone

A settlement associated with an extensive prehistoric field system. In 1970 this monument was recorded as being much reduced by ploughing. The settlement is thought not to have been enclosed. Occasional surface finds of coarse pottery and samian ware have made. The settlement is recorded on the OS 1st edition map and some of these mapped features were visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar imagery and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM Project. The settlement is immediately adjacent to extensive later prehistoric or Roman field systems (MDO4682 and MDO44666) and some of the 'settlement' features are likely to be boundaries relating to these field systems.

SETTLEMENT, Romano-British (832093), lies among 'Celtic' fields at just over 600 ft. above O.D. on the almost flat summit of Shillingstone Hill. The site has been flattened by ploughing and by a track which crosses it, and recent cultivation has completed the process. the precise limits are no longer determinable although it appears never to have been enclosed. Coarse Romano-British pottery and a few fragments of samian ware have been recovered. <2>

The settlement is recorded on the OS 1st edition map and some of these mapped features were visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar imagery and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM Project. The settlement is immediately adjacent to extensive later prehistoric or Roman field systems (MDO4682 and MDO44666) and some of the 'settlement' features are likely to be boundaries relating to these field systems. [7-9].

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey map 1:10,560, 1968 (Map). SDO18658.

(ST 832092) Settlement

<2> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 241 (Monograph). SDO136.

'(25) SETTLEMENT, Romano-British (832093), lies among 'Celtic' fields (Group (58)) at just over 600 ft. above O.D. on the almost flat summit of Shillingstone Hill. The site has been flattened by ploughing and by a track which crosses it, and recent cultivation had completed the process. The precise limits are no longer determinable although it appears never to have been enclosed. Coarse Romano-British pottery and a few fragments of samian ware have been recovered. Long mounds, alleged to be 'pillow mounds' (83270933 - 83280932), were almost certainly the remains of a fragmentary bank and ditch associated with the settlement; these also are now destroyed.'

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1965, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1964, 119 (Serial). SDO64.

'(iv) Shillingstone Hill. The late O.G.S. Crawford noted much Romano-British pottery including samian ware in the settlement area associated with 'Celtic' fields (ST 832092), but no further finds were made in 1956.'

<4> Historic England, Historic England Archive, CC72/01489 (Index). SDO14738.

SHILLINGSTONE HILL FROM HANFORD GATE OF HOD HILL

<5> Historic England, Historic England Archive, RCH01/096 (Index). SDO14738.

RCHME Inventory: Dorset III (Central): A large collection of archive relating to the RCHME Dorset Inventory Volume III, published in 1970. It contains field surveys and excavation archive. Parish files containing original surveys have been given child collection status.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 205552 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<7> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

<8> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 RS 4166 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18773.

<9> Royal Air Force, 07-JAN-1954, RAF/58/1332 F21 11 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18774.

Record last edited

Oct 4 2023 2:08PM