Monument record MDO4812 - Enclosure at Down End Farm, Stourpaine

A plough-levelled, roughly circular ditched enclosure of about 8 acres set on a small hilltop and visible on aerial photographs. There are traces of an inturned entrance on the south side, but no discernible internal features. An archaeological evaluation of the site in 1990 showed that it was an Iron Age/Romano-British settlement. ((The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water.)) The site of the sub-oval bank and ditched enclosure is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs. It covers an area of approximately 5 hectares and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM Project.

The site of the sub-oval enclosure is visible as cropmarks and earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar imagey [2, 5-6]. It comprises a bank with outer ditch and covers an area of approximately 5 hectares. It was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM Project.

<1> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 265 (Monograph). SDO136.

‘(13) ENCLOSURE (875094), visible only on air photographs (St. Joseph OAP. AT 40), lies on top of a small rounded hill at about 420 ft. O.D., immediately S.E. of Down End Farm Buildings. It is a roughly circular area of 8 acres bounded by a ditch 5 ft. to 10 ft. wide; there are traces of an inturned entrance on the S. side but there are no internal features. The site is one of a group of similar enclosures in Pimperne and Tarrant Hinton, to the E. (see Dorset IV, Pimperne(16–18), Tarrant Hinton (20–21)).’

<2> Royal Air Force, 24-04-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/2038 3229-30 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16341.

<3> Mudd, A, 1990, Stourpaine Landfill Site, Stourpaine, Dorset: Archaeological Assessment (Unpublished document). SDO14188.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 205411 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<5> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

<6> National Monuments Record, 30-MAR-1982, NMR 2110/1177 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18940.

Record last edited

Nov 29 2022 8:11PM