Monument record MDO6150 - Romano-British settlement, Sturminster Marshall

A number of pits found around 1834, said to contain Romano-British pottery and other objects, and interpreted as a probable settlement. The pits were reported as being in the 'common field' of Sturminster Marshall, but their exact location is not clear.

<1> Shipp, W (ed), 1868, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. 3rd edition. Volume 3 (Monograph). SWX3207.

<2> Warne, C, 1872, Ancient Dorset (Monograph). SDO10094.

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1964, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1963, 105 (Serial). SDO63.

'A number of pits found c. 1843 in the common-field of Sturminster Marshall containing Romano-British pottery and other objects, and described by Warne and Shipp (2), were found in a chalk-pit … Warne's map (Dorsetshire: its vestiges) seems to place these discoveries between the Winterborne and the Stour in the vicinity of Newton Peveril, perhaps near the railway, in a cutting of which a burial with shale armlet was recorded by Shipp (3).'

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1965, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1964, 115 (Serial). SDO64.

'Romano-British pits in the common-field of Sturminster Marshall. In Proceedings Vol. 85, p. 105, the writer suggested that the Romano-British pits revealed in 1842-3 in a chalk-pit in the "common-field" of Sturminster Marshall may have been N. of the Winterborne. This now seems unlikely. The Tithe Map (1844) does not refer to the common-field and shows the enclosures much as they exist today, but the 2 in. to the mile Ms. Survey (1805-7) for the 1st edn. Of the O.S. 1in. Map (in the British Museum) shows "Sturminster Fields" lying S. of the Winterborne (thereon named Newton Marsh) between Sturminster village and Almer, with the road between the villages running parallel with and S. of Newton Marsh, through the centre of the fields. The western part of the fields was swallowed up when Charborough Park was extended. The chalk-pit that revealed the Roman site should thus be sought S. of the stream, perhaps in the old pit (SY 934991) near Three Cornered Clump.'

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 611 (Monograph). SDO150.

'… other remains of doubtful location consist of … some eight pits exposed in a chalk-pit in the 'common field', containing Romano-British pottery, bones etc. (Dorset Procs. LXXXV (1963), 105; LXXXVI (1964), 115).'

Record last edited

May 29 2019 11:11AM