Monument record MDO6551 - Portland: Beehive chambers found at Coombefield Quarries, Weston

A corbelled beehive chamber was found at Coombefield quarries in 1897, near it was an oblong chamber with rounded corners. Another beehive chamber examined in 1898 had an arched entrance on its N side . Photographs provide evidence of two other beehive chambers found in 1906? And 1907 receptively.

A number of beehive chambers are recorded at Coombefield Quarries Weston, Portland. The first record is of a corbelled stone beehive chamber discovered in 1897, with a diameter of about 5ft. This chamber is alleged to have contained human remains (4 001 105 B) 2 yards away from it, an oblong chamber with rounded corners was found. It measures 7ft by 4 and a half ft and it was some 3ft high. It lay NNW to SSE, and was walled with Purbeck stone partly corbelled and closed with flat slabs. Within its rubble fill, numerous artefacts were retrieved, including sherds, a hammer-stone, flint flakes, slingstones, charred wood and shells. Another stone-lined beehive chamber , measuring 4 and a half ft high with a diameter of 5ft examined in 1898 had an arched entrance or passage on its N side 8ft long with a circular hole 4 and a half ft deep in its floor. This chamber contained Iron Age pottery, a rough mortar and a pebble pestle. A further two beehive chambers were identified in photographs. One from 1906 shows a corbelled beehive about 4ft in diameter, found empty, the other of a beehive chamber found in 1907 is approximately 4 and three quarter ft in diameter with vertical wall surviving to 4 and a half ft. (1)


The rear of the DHER Record card carried a photocopy of a partially exposed 'beehive chamber, 'dene hole, february 1906', citing a Dorset County Museum reference P.22 196 DCM

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1898, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 128-129 (Serial). SDO12.

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1899, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 120-121 (Serial). SDO13.

Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 607 (Monograph). SDO150.

DCC SMR, to 2003, Former DCC SMR Card Index (Index). SWX8285.

Record last edited

Oct 13 2015 10:20AM