Monument record MDO47593 - Shroton spur outwork, Hambledon Hill, Child Okeford

A plough-damaged Neolithic causewayed linear earthwork on Hambledon Hill. It is one of a series of features which enclosed much of the hill. Evidence for their date is at present inconclusive, but their are hints in their plan and stratigraphic relationships that they may be somewhat later in the earlier Neolithic sequence than the construction of the causewayed enclosures on the hill. The Shroton spur outwork was surveyed by RCHME in 1959, when it extended for circa 275 metres in an arc from north to south across the eastern end of the Shroton spur, some 380 metres east of the main causewayed enclosure. It comprised a causewayed double bank and ditch. Excavations by Bonney in 1958-60 and Mercer in 1974-86 included trenches through this earthwork, confirming its nature and its Neolithic date. The earthworks on Hambledon Hill were surveyed again by RCHME in 1996. The present field boundary follows the line of the Shroton spur outwork, and it now comprises a single scarp, essentially a lynchet, between 0.6 and 1.8 metres high. Some irregular depressions towards its northern end relate to more recent quarrying.

(ST 8543 1215 - 8536 1240) Between late May and late August 1996 the Cambridge and Exeter offices of RCHME carried out an earthwork survey and aerial photographic interpretation of the complex of monuments on Hambledon Hill as part of the project to record Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic period. The `Shroton spur outwork', formerly recorded as part of the main causewayed enclosure (ST 81 SW 17), was assigned a new NMR number to enhance the record. A plough-damaged Neolithic causewayed linear earthwork on Hambledon Hill. It is one of a series of features which enclosed much of the hill. Evidence for their date is at present inconclusive, but their are hints in their plan and stratigraphic relationships that they may be somewhat later in the earlier Neolithic sequence than the construction of the causewayed enclosures on the hill (ST 81 SW 17, ST 81 SE 52). The Shroton spur outwork was surveyed by RCHME in 1959, when it extended for circa 275 metres in an arc from north to south across the eastern end of the Shroton spur, some 380 metres east of the main causewayed enclosure. It comprised a causewayed double bank and ditch. Excavations by Bonney in 1958-60 and Mercer in 1974-86 included trenches through this earthwork, confirming its nature and its Neolithic date.
See the archive report and the parent record (ST 81 SW 17) for full details. The present field boundary follows the line of the Shroton spur outwork, and it now comprises a single scarp, essentially a lynchet, between 0.6 and 1.8 metres high. Some irregular depressions towards its northern end relate to more recent quarrying. (1)

A full publication on the investigations at Hambledon Hill was published in 2009. Refere to this for detailed descriptions and chronological modelling of the site. (2)

<1> RCHME: Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic (Monograph). SWX1665.

<2> Mercer, R, and Healy, F, 2008, Hambledon Hill, Dorset, England. Excavation and survey of a Neolithic monument complex and its surrounding landscape, 187-96 (Monograph). SDO13474.

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1058088 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 21 2023 10:54AM