Monument record MDO7048 - Mound at Stoborough, Arne

A mound, about 150ft diameter and 18ft high with flat top, was recorded on low-lying ground behind the New Inn, Stoborough. It is probably a natural hillock scarped and altered on the north and east in recent times. Early medieval pottery has been found in the area. This feature is visible as an earthwork mound on aerial photographs of Stoborough taken in 1945.

SY 92328639. A mound, about 150ft diameter and 18ft high with flat top situated on low-lying ground behind the New Inn, Stoborough. This is probably a natural hillock scarped and altered in recent times on the north and east. Early medieval pottery has been found here. <1-2>

Listed as a possible motte by Cathcart King. <3>

An earthwork mound, approximately 41.6m x 16.4m, is visible on aerial photographs of Stoborough taken in 1945 <4>. It was digitally plotted during the South West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (Dorset). The feaure is obscured by tree cover on the most recent comprehensive aerial imagery available to the project <5> so it is not certain whether it remains as an upstanding earthwork or not.

<1> Dayrell Reed, T, 1947, The Rise of Wessex, a Further Essay in Dark Age History, p322 (Monograph). SWX3113.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 481 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(47) MOUND (SY 98 NW; 92328639) on level low-lying ground behind the New Inn, Stoborough. Diam. about 150 ft., ht. 18 ft. with flat top. This is probably a natural hillock scarped and altered in recent times on the N. and E. Early mediaeval pottery has been found here. (T. D. Reed, The Rise of Wessex (1947), 332.)’

<3> Cathcart-King, D J, 1983, Castellarium anglicanum: an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the islands (Monograph). SDO16340.

<4> Royal Air Force, 14-MAR-1945, RAF/106G/LA/194 246 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12702.

<5> Google Earth, 2013, Google Earth 2013 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12686.

<6> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 89 (Index). SDO147.

‘Site lies in permanent grassland W. of the New Inn, Stoborough. 7/7/B.’

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456741 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

May 31 2023 4:14PM