Monument record MDO7458 - Iron Age or Roman occupation on Furzey Island, Poole Harbour

(Area SZ 00918695); Iron Age B & C pottery found by H P Smith about 1950. <1>

Occupation debris has been seen in two places in the low cliff face on the W shore of Furzey Island. A shallow depression filled with earth and not excavated lying 3ft below the surface and 12ft across was exposed in section. It contained some native coarse pottery, also NW of this feature a possible gully was observed containing coarse native pottery and a fragment of what may be Romano-British briquetage. <2>

During a brief visit Farrar noted the shallow depression and interpreted it as a possible hut floor and the gully containing the coarse native pottery <3>

BP are seeking to develop the island and the Trust for Wessex Archaeology intend to undertake work in advance. <4>

The area proposed for development by BP was excavated, no further details. <5>

<1> Calkin, J B, Annotated Record Map Corr 6, 1952 (Map). SWX8214.

<2> Farrar, R A H, 1963, Iron Age or Roman Occupation on Furzey Island, Poole Harbour, 104 (Article in serial). SWX3328.

‘In 1959, in company with Mr. A. Bromby, bailiff of Round Island, the writer paid a brief visit to Furzey Island to investigate a report of Iron Age B and C pottery found on the island, once made by the late Mr. H. P. Smith to Mr. J. B. Calkin.
(i) A shallow depression appears in section some 3 feet below surface in the low cliff on the S. W. side of the island at SZ 00918694. Overhanging furze made investigation difficult in the time available, but the feature had been thought to be possibly a hut floor about 12 to 14 feet across. Trimming the face for examination produce a scrap of a bead-rim jar of sandy black coarse ware and couple of similar plain sherds (D.C.M. 1963.5.1). The rim, a ‘degenerate’ type of bead (Wheeler’s group B iii), is unburnished and seems closer to Iron Age B than C or Romano-British fabric, but the evidence is insufficient to date the site. According to Mr. Bromby fragments of unworked shale have been found here.’

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1964, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1963, 104 (Serial). SDO63.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3 (Monograph). SDO150.

<5> Cox, Peter W (et al), 1988, Excavation and survey on Furzey Island, Poole Harbour, Dorset, 1985 (Article in serial). SWX786.

<6> Cox, P W, 1985, Excavation and Survey on Furzey Island, Poole Harbour - An interim note. (Article in serial). SWX7356.

<7> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 55 (Index). SDO147.

'Low cliff on W. shore. The island interior has been managed and landscaped. Levelled lawns, managed coniferous woodland and tracks. Also areas of scrub. BP are seeking PP to develop island and TWA intend to undertake archaeological work in advance. OS SZ08NW4. 7/5/D.'

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 457500 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 13 2024 8:03AM