Monument record MDO6914 - Iron Age/Romano-British Settlement, Moortown Aerodrome, Poole

SZ 046 974. Two ditches measuring 1.4 m by 0.5 m and 1.6 m by 0.4 m were excavated, apparently representing two sides of a rectilinear enclosure. Mid C1st AD. Two timber slats and a post-hole were also excavated. The site should probably be seen as one of a string of native settlements along the Stour valley. <2>

<1> Poole Museums Service List of Excavations, PM34 (Index). SDO14878.

Site Code: PM34. Area: E. Activity: Iron Age defensive enclosure, Iron Age & Romano-British settlement, with surrounding field system. Dating Evidence: Pottery, various types. Area: Enclosure: 40m x 45m, with extensive activity. Centre of Activity: SZ 0410 9703.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1983, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1982, 183 (Serial). SDO82.

‘A 1st CENTURY FARMSTEAD AT MOORTOWN AERODROME, POOLE.
In September 1982, two trial trenches totalling 250m2 were excavated at Moortown Aerodrome (SZ 046974) subsequent to a fluxgate gradiometer scan carried out by the Ancient Monuments Laboratory (Survey No. G.19/82). In trial trench 1 two ditches, measuring c. 1.40 m by c. 0.5 m and c. 1.6 m by c. 0.4 m were excavated apparently forming two sides of a rectilinear enclosure. Associated pottery dated to the mid-1st century AD. Two timber slots and a post hole were also excavated. The site should probably be seen as one of a string of native farmsteads along the Stour Valley (Calkin, Dorset Proceedings, 86, 1964, pp. 120-130). The only feature located in trial trench 2 was a post-medieval field boundary. The site is threatened by mineral extraction and further work is probable.’

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1985, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1984, 114 (Serial). SDO84.

‘THE STOUR VALLEY GRAVELS PROJECT … Moortown Aerodrome (SZ 040970) Excavations in advance of a 60-acre gravel quarry will continue for at least five years and form the main basis of the research programme. Air photographs were inconclusive on this site and a programme involving geophysical survey, trial trenching, and limited area excavation was implemented. So far, three settlement sites of the Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age/Romano-British periods have been located. … The Iron Age/Romano-British Settlement. A complex of at least three phases of ditches, representing a palimpsest of enclosures associated with rural settlements of c. 50BC-300AD, was investigated by area excavation and trial trenching following earlier trial excavation 1983. No building plans were recovered but structural features were indicated by a line of post-holes and other post-holes. A pit and large V-shaped ditch located in a trial trench may indicate an area close to the nucleus of the Iron Age settlement and will be investigated further in 1985.’

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1987, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1986, 181 (Serial). SDO86.

‘THE STOUR VALLEY GRAVELS PROJECT 1986 INTERIM REPORT
Excavations by I. P. Horsey and K. S. Jarvis in advance of gravel quarrying continued at White’s Pit and Moortown (near Bearwood, Poole) were financed mainly by a Manpower Services Community Program together with a grant from the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission. … At Moortown an area excavation adjacent to the 1984 excavation has revealed another small Roman farm indicated by a rectangular enclosure with ditches of defensive proportions dated to the 1st or 2nd century AD. The enclosure has an area of c. 0.2 hectares and the interior will be investigated in 1987.’

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1988, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1987, 124-125 (Serial). SDO87.

‘THE STOUR VALLEY GRAVELS PROJECT 1987 INTERIM REPORT
Excavations on behalf of Poole Museums Service at the Moortown site recommenced from June 1987 to January 1988. Three main phases of activity were identified:
1. An area of Deverel-Rimbury Bronze Age ditches and pits extended west from the site of a cremation urn excavated in 1986. A rare cylindrical clay loom-weight of Bronze Age date was found but the pottery has yet to be examined.
2. A late Iron Age sub-rectangular enclosure of 0.25 hectares (Jarvis 1986) was bounded by a single ‘V’-shaped ditch some 3 m wide and 1.5 m deep. A distinct recut of this ditch, which contained quantities of Romano-British pottery, attested to the continued use of the enclosure into that period. Many fragments of quern stone have been recovered from this ditch.
3. A later Romano-British palisade ditch containing over 60 post holes at regular intervals of c. 1 m.
Within the enclosure over 170 pits and post holes have now been excavated. Towards the centre an incomplete circle of post holes c. 4 m in diameter indicated a probable round house. The interpretation of the majority of the features is as yet unclear due to the lack of stratigraphic relationships and dating evidence.’

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 888325 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 4 2023 3:48PM