Monument record MDO48412 - Iron Age/Roman rectilinear enclosure, Weam Common Hill, Cerne Abbas

A partial banked and ditched sub-rectilinear enclosure on Weam Common Hill, Cerne Abbas, is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery. The feature is recorded as a camp on the OS 1st Edition map. The two clearly visible corners are rounded, having a 'playing card' like appearance, which would possibly suggest a Roman military origin. The feature is mentioned in association with a possible Iron Age/Roman settlement site at this location (MDO722). It was digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

A partial banked and ditched sub-rectilinear enclosure on Weam Common Hill, Cerne Abbas, is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery. The feature is recorded as a camp on the OS 1st Edition map [3]. The feature is mentioned in association with a possible Iron Age/Roman settlement site at this location (MDO722).

The enclosure is 233m by potentially 255m, bivallate, with a central ditch. The west and south sides are identifiable and the southwest and northwest corners appear to have curved 'playing card' corners, which would have the suggestion of a possible Roman military character. The east side is less certain but a 90m long section of a narrow linear bank with an external ditch is just identifiable - a spread linear bank in the field to the north continues the line of this and might be a further plough damaged section of the enclosure bank; a possibly slight return of this bank to the west was identified and appeared slightly rounded, but this detail was indistinct. A short curving section of bank and ditch at the enclosure's southeast corner, now separated by a later footpath, also suggests this corner was 'playing card' shaped as well. The north side was not identified on available aerial sources. It was digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

<1> Ordnance Survey, 13-MAR-1995, OS 95033 V 79 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20885.

<2> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

Record last edited

Dec 12 2024 3:09PM