Monument record MDO47183 - Enclosure, Charminster

(Centred SY 698954). `Celtic' fields, settlement and other remains. See map 'Celtic' fields covered at least 600 acres on Charlton Higher Down, Charminster (E from SY 684954), Little Piddle Down, Piddlehinton (to 703960), Waterston Ridge, Puddletown (to 720943) and parts of Stinsford S of this (to 710940). The remains were prominent on Charlton Higher Down, where parts towards the W were the only portions not in modern arable, but incomplete even there owing to former destruction by ploughing. Elsewhere the pattern is much broken. Very faint traces show that the group was virtually continuous with fields (SY 69 NE 12) on the N.

There are isolated fragments E and S of the main block: on Little Piddle Hill (711958) and N of Seager's Barn, Charminster (698938).

A settlement on Charlton Higher Down (see below) is at the junction of local roads associated with the 'Celtic' fields. There are two other possible settlements, (a) and (b), W of this, also on Charlton Higher Down. (See plan).

The fields lie mostly on gentle slopes between about 300ft and 550ft OD on and about a ridge E from the N-S ridge between the rivers Cerne and Piddle. They are generally on Chalk, but at least 20 acres are on sandy loam of the Reading Beds on the summit of Charlton Higher Down (690956). Sandy clay also occurs in patches E of this. Some podsolisation was visible near Settlement (30) and water was held in a modern pit there. Purple `heathstone' was scattered in the settlement area.

The Settlement (see below) existed between the C1st, at latest, and the C4th AD. It is approached for 3/4 mile from the E by a road, now incomplete and all of it under the plough, which shows as a double-lynchet track with surface 7 yds wide on the E of Little Puddle Down, and as a hollow between banks of chalk and clay where the ground rises W from the Down.

`Celtic' fields were arranged on either side of it. The road forks NW and S, just NE of the settlement, the junction forming a small open space about 20ft across. It is possible that a road also continued W from the settlement.

Possible settlement (a), 68919521, is suggested by a scarped and banked rectangular enclosure, 38 yds by 14 yds on the edge of a block of fields with a shallow gully immediately W. A circular depression about 27 ft across, almost surrounded by a slight bank, lies N of it. A gap in the bank facing SW is, however, uncharacteristic of hut-circles. There is a curving bank, unusual amongst ordinary fields, 100 yds NW of the circle.

Possible settlement (b) depends chiefly on air-photographic signs of a possibly banked enclosure, roughly 100 ft square, but with the S side rounded, at 68599562 near the summit at the W of Charlton Higher Down, above 500ft.The ground S of this is uneven and there is a break in the regular pattern of fields.

The remains of a continuous belt of fields have survived for 2 miles from W to E. At 702953 an almost straight line of lynchets running for 600 yds S from Peak Coppice suggests a boundary. Staggered angles are common, especially SE of Charlton Higher Down. Destruction has left very few complete individual fields.
There are indications of proportions of about 2:1, lengths from 83 yds to 100 yds, sides from 30 yds to 50 yds, and sizes from 1/2 acre to under 1 acre. Lynchets up to 6ft high occur over the whole area and are up to 10ft high on Charlton Higher Down.

Relationships with other earthworks are few. Barrows appear to have been respected. Two (SY 69 SE 33 & SY 79 NW 26) clearly lay at field angles. A probable barrow at SY 70689497 is also at a field angle. All parish boundaries cut across 'Celtic' fields as does the ridgeway connecting Puddletown with the Dorchester-Sherborne ridge-road; the line of this ridgeway is visible running SE from 700952.

The settlement, late Iron Age and Romano-British, on Charlton Higher Down (694956), occupies about 4 acres in the corner of a modern field adjoining the Piddlehinton boundary and has been much reduced by ploughing. The settlement lies at 475ft OD on the ridge of a spur sloping gently E from the high ground between the valleys of the Cerne and the Piddle. The main part consists of some seven platforms or hollows set into the slope and surrounded on all but the S by banks confining them within about 1 1/4 acres. A track running S from these platforms is bordered on the E by a series of small, irregular, terraced areas. It joins a major through track running N-S along the E side of the settlement and between it and the 'Celtic' fields; this in turn is joined by a track from the E. Finds from the platforms and terraces, and from the area E of the main trackway, include sherds in the Iron Age tradition, Samian and coarse pottery from the C1st to C4th, tile and worked stone. <1-2>

Settlement '(a)' is visible only as a flattish area with a lynchet on the south. <3>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 72-3 (Monograph). SDO146.

<2> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 324 (Monograph). SDO136.

<3> Attrill, N J, Field Investigators Comments NJA, F1 NJA 05-JAN-81 (Unpublished document). SDO14743.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452973 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 26 2023 1:58PM