Monument record MDO540 - Potential prehistoric enclosure west of Pilsdon Pen, Broadwindsor

The potential site of a prehistoric oval enclosure to the west of Pilsdon Pen is visible as a faint earthwork on aerial photographs of the 1940s. The site was digitally plotted during the Marshwood Vale NMP.

A possible enclosure, oval in plan, shows up on air photographs <2> at ST 40620164. No trace of an earthwork is visible on the ground, in an area of very coarse pasture and furze. <3>

The potential site of a prehistoric oval enclosure to the west of Pilsdon Pen is visible as a faint earthwork on aerial photographs of the 1940s <1> and <2>. The enclosure is located approximately 250m east of another oval enclosure (MDO541) and approximately 440m northwest of Pilsdon Pen. It measures around 88m wide by 102m long. On aerial photographs of the 1940s <1> and <2> it is showing as being cut by a post medieval trackway to the south. There is a faint suggestion of a second enclosure adjacent to this one to the east, but this may be natural vegetation marks.

The Historic England record of the site <3> notes a possible oval enclosure showing on aerial photographs but not visible on the ground.

The site is not visible on the latest Lidar survey <5> or the latest Google imagery <4>. The site was digitally plotted during the Marshwood Vale NMP.

The enclosure lies within the area of a possible Late Iron Age/Romano-British field system recorded by Historic England (NMR ST 40 SW 34) but this was not identified by the Marshwood Vale NMP.

<1> Royal Air Force, 11 APR 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2411-12 (Aerial Photograph). SDO14767.

<2> Royal Air Force, 11 APR 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2334-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO14768.

<3> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 02-NOV-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<4> Google Earth, 2006, Google Earth vertical photograph (Aerial Photograph). SDO14562.

<5> Environment Agency, 2010, Lidar DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO13148.

<6> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/088 RCHME Inventory: Dorset I (West) and Revision (Unpublished document). SDO17367.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 193089 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 3 2022 5:00PM