Monument record MDO6000 - Prehistoric linear earthwork near Badbury Rings

The earthwork was excavated by F and H L Vacher in 1965, and reported on by Wessex Archaeology in 1988. The Wessex Archaeology report indicates that the earthwork post-dates phases of Neolithic and Beaker settlement, and may be Middle Bronze Age in origin.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1988, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1987, 65-78 (Serial). SDO87.

An earthwork lay approximately 0.5km west-south-west of the hill on which the Iron Age hillfort of Badbury Rings was built and was just to the north of the Wimborne to Blandford road in the parish of Shapwick. The earthwork was excavated by F and H L Vacher in 1965 and reported in 1988 by Wessex Archaeology. The report shows that phases of settlement in the Neolithic and Beaker period were succeeded by the construction of the earthwork, probably in the Middle Bronze Age, which was constructed several times.
The earliest features on the site were two Beaker pits, and a post hole found to contain Beaker pottery. The Phase I bank sealed at least one feature and a group of seven Early Bronze Age pottery fragments, which included a Beaker sherd with a finger tipped cordon.
Excavations revealed evidence for three phases of construction.
Phase I: The initial phase consisted of a shallow ditch with its corresponding bank thrown up on the southern side.
Phase II: Subsequently a deeper ditch was dug to the north of, and parallel to, the Phase I ditch. Its bank on the southern side partly overlay the earlier ditch. A row of posts was inserted behind the bank into the fill of the Phase I ditch at a later date.
Phase III: The ditch was later re-dug for much of its length removing all traces of the Phase II ditch. The bank was thrown up over the Phase II bank and over the Phase 1 ditch and bank. By this time, the revetment of posts behind the Phase II bank had collapsed or been removed.
A causeway interrupted both the Phase II and Phase III ditches: the number of features associated with it proved to be largely undateable.

Record last edited

Jul 23 2022 7:06PM