Monument record MDO541 - Prehistoric enclosure west of Pilsdon Pen, Broadwindsor

The site of probable prehistoric enclosures on Pilsdon Pen, which are visible as banked and ditched earthworks on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s and on a Lidar survey of 2010. The site was digitally plotted during the Marshwood Vale NMP.

ST 40300173 A crop mark is visible on Air Photo CPE/UK/1974/2334-5 as a roughly oval enclosure, similar to those often encountered with IA/RB field systems, although no evidence of a field system was seen on the ground. The site is on the crest of a scarp facing S., in an area of very rough pasture, with brambles, furze &c. Some scarps of an earthwork are surveyable and are 4.0 - 10.0 m wide, with an average depth of 0.1 m. A well graded trackway extends from the modern road on the N. towards the earthwork, but this fades some distance before reaching it. The remains of the earthwork do not suggest any obvious type, and appear to be inherently weak rather than decayed through time. It may only be the result of recent farming activity.

The Celtic field scarps to the West (ST 40 SW 34) approach the enclosure and appear to ride over the bank at one point and at another appear to be under the enclosure. The enclosure is apparently similar to the South-Western type of hillfort or enclosure. <3> <4>

A series of banked and ditched earthworks are visible on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s <1> and <2> and on a Lidar survey of 2010 <5>. The earthworks potentially indicate at least one broadly oval enclosure around 53m long by 57m wide that may form part of a potentially wider Late Iron Age/Romano-British field system on Pilsdon Pen.

An existing NMR record of the site <3> <4> notes that an enclosure is visible as a crop mark on aerial photographs of the 1940s (2) but that a field visit revealed nothing on the ground. An additional note records that Celtic field scarps to the west encroach on the enclosure, at one point riding over its bank and at another point underlying it.

The latest Lidar survey of the site <5> suggests a further curved bank and possible enclosure to the north of the one previously recorded, with possible additional banks and ditches to the south. Although faint, these suggest a more complex pattern of enclosure banks. The earthworks are still faintly visible on a digital aerial photograph taken in 2009 <6> and on the latest Google Earth imagery <7>. The site was digitally plotted during the Marshwood Vale NMP.

<1> Royal Air Force, 11 APR 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2334-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO14768.

<2> Royal Air Force, 11 APR 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2411-12 (Aerial Photograph). SDO14767.

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

<4> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Unpublished revision RCHME Dorset I (West) Undated (Broadwindsor file) (Unpublished document). SDO18731.

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

<6> Dorset County Council, XX-XXX-2009, Dorset CC Vertical Digital Photo Tile (Aerial Photograph). SDO13314.

<7> Google Earth, 2006, Google Earth vertical photograph (Aerial Photograph). SDO14562.

<8> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/088 RCHME Inventory: Dorset I (West) and Revision (Unpublished document). SDO17367.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 193086 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 3 2022 4:55PM