Monument record MDO720 - Settlement on Dickley Hill, Cerne Abbas

Settlement, defended to the east by a scarp, ditch and outer bank extending for over 200 yards, with an entrance towards the south end. About 150 yards to the west is another smaller bank nearly parallel to that described above, but only extending for half the distance. Between the two is what may be the remains of an oval enclosure with sub-divisions, but only the north half has survived. Banked and ditched features associated with the settlement and an associated field system to the east are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle valleys AIM project.

The settlement, comprising four elements, is centred at ST 6565 0027 and has been under pasture for a number of years.

It is bounded on the E by a bank 6.0m wide and 0.5m high with a ditch on the inner, settlement, side 5.0m wide and 0.8m deep. It crosses flat ground in a N to S direction for 200m and although its former northern termination cannot be deduced, an AP(a) shows soilmarks in ploughland to the S indicating a 'dog-leg' conforming to and merging with the boundaries of a former field system. An entrance gap at ST 6572 0023 is splayed inwards to the settlement and outwards to the associated fields.

These factors, with the inherent weakness and non-strategic situation of the work, suggest that it is not defensive but simply a track or fieldway.

The two house platforms, at ST 6561 0022 and ST 6565 0030, are each 9.0m internal diameter, slightly sunken and enclosed by a bank 4.0m wide overall, 0.2m high internally and 0.1m high externally. In both the entrance is in the SE. When visited in 1955 by OS Field Investigator the whole area was ploughed and sherds of pottery were found in both house sites but none of significance elsewhere.

At ST 65630026 is the remains of the 'enclosure' which now appears as two separate depressions about 11.0m in diameter and 0.3m deep, each joined and enclosed by a bank 5.0m wide and 0.3m high. The circular form of the depressions may have resulted from past ploughing; it is unlikely that they are house sites.

The final component of the settlement a 70.0mm length of bank and ditch at ST 65580024 can still be detected on the ground as a slight rise but is no longer a surveyable feature. Pits in the area appear to be natural sinkings.

In 1955 the field system covered some 40 hectares on ST 60 SE and a similar amount to the S (on SY 69 NE) (b) ©. On ST 60 SE this has been reduced to 10 hectares on the E slope of Dickley Hill, centred at ST 6605 0025. Here the system is well preserved with squarish fields of about 60m side (0.36 ha), formed by banks up to 6.0m wide and 0.7m high with lynchets 8.0m wide and 2.0m high. (3,a,b,c)

The published survey of the settlement revised at 1:2500 on PFD.

Additional material including correspondence, photographs and tracings from aerial photograph. (4) NRHE

Banked and ditched features associated with the settlement and an associated field system to the east are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project. The hut circles are visible as shallow hollows with external banks, the forked linear bank and ditch on the west side of the settlement as a cropmark on a 1947 aerial photograph. The linear bivallate and ditched feature might be a linear earthwork or trackway and is visible as an earthwork on the same 1947 aerial photograph, and as a soilmark on later aerial photographs, although it is no longer identifiable on lidar imagery. An area of squarish fields to the east are clearly visible on lidar imagery and are probably associated - a possible double ditched trackway extends from the south side of these into a further area of later prehistoric fields to the south. These form part of a wider field system (MDO48415) of probable later prehistoric, potentially Iron Age/Roman, date at this location, also visible on lidar imagery, which continues to the north of the settlement and intermixes with features associated with it, making it difficult to distinguish between the two. Some of the earthworks associated with the settlement are recorded on the OS 1st Edition map, which also records some on the east as a 'camp' - it is not clear from aerial sources if this is separate to the field system or refers to features forming part of it. The 'camp' consists of earthworks forming part of the possible trackway leading south from the fields, as well as a narrow curvilinear lynchet to the east of this, which might be later prehistoric or potentially one of a series of possible medieval lynchets (see MDO48406) . <4, 5, 6, 7>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 84 (Monograph). SDO97.

'(34) SETTLEMENT and BARROW, on Dickley Hill over ¾ m. S.W. of the church. The settlement is defended on the E. side by a scarp, ditch and outer bank extending for over 200 yards and having an entrance towards the S. end. This entrance seems to have had the bank turned slightly outwards on each side. About 150 yards to the W. is a small bank nearly parallel to that described, but only extending for half the distance. Between the two is what may be the remains of an oval enclosure with sub-divisions, but only the N. half has survived. Remains of various hut-circles and sinkings are shown on the accompanying plan. About 150 yards to the E. of the entrance is a bowl barrow 23 ft. in diam. and 1½ ft. high. There are extensive remains of a Celtic field-system to the E. of the site.'

<2> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/088 RCHME Inventory: Dorset I (West) and Revision (Unpublished document). SDO17367.

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 198983 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<4> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2377 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20883.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 30-MAY-1974, OS 74088 V 213 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20887.

<6> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

<7> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

Record last edited

Aug 19 2024 2:22PM