Monument record MDO7469 - Roman occupation and shale working site, Norden, Corfe Castle

Remains of a Romano-British occupation and shale working site are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and Lidar imagery of Norden. These features were digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

Area centred SY 959825. Dish of Kimmeridge shale, bronze compasses and Roman coins found when lowering the hill north of King Edward's Bridge. Now in Dorchester Museum. <1>

Two Romano British shale plaques, one circular, found before 1859 with a pair of bronze dividers in lowering the road north west of St Edward's Bridge. (sited to SY 958826 and therefore undoubtedly part of the Norden industrial site - see SY 98 SE 24). <9>

(Centred SY 958826) Inhumation burials, floors and occupation debris, including objects from a Kimmeridge shale industry, have been found above the 50 ft contour in the Norden Clay Works some 300 yds N of the Corfe gap in the chalk range. More recent finds have been made between the clay pits beside the Wareham road. Remains of a stone paved floor were found at SY95788261, and a small cist containing Romano-British sherds at SY 95648265. A chalk and limestone floor was also uncovered at 95948264. A deposit of chalk and limestone capped with small stone bricks was found to the SW of the road at SY 95558266. The deposit overlay Roman material including a coarse ware sherd and part of a shale plaque. A piece of shale table leg and some small siltstone cubes were unstratified. Cores from turned shale armlets are said to have been common at Norden. A stone cist, some RB pottery, a fragment of glass, animal bones and an iron arrow-head were found at 95648265 in 1967. Slag from smelting was common, but the most striking industrial waste was from the manufacture of Purbeck marble, mud stone and chalk inlays of various thickness. A selection of finished and unfinished bowls, a chalk working floor and a dump of chalk tesserae were found at SY95648271 in 1969. <8> <9> <10> <12>

Listed by Swan as a possible kiln producing (?)Black-Burnished Ware I. <14>

Remains of a Romano-British occupation and shale working site are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs <19> and Lidar imagery <20> of Norden, Corfe Castle. These features were digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> Calkin, J B, Annotated Record Map Corr. 6, 1949 (Map). SWX8351.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1952, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1951, 86-91 (Serial). SDO51.

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1956, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1955, 77 (Serial). SDO55.

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1957, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1956, 91 (Serial). SDO56.

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1965, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1964, 116-117 (Serial). SDO64.

<6> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1966, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1965, 111-112 (Serial). SDO65.

<7> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1967, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1966, 119 (Serial). SDO66.

<8> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1968, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1967, 145 (Serial). SDO67.

<9> Sunter, N J, 1970, The Excavation of a Roman industrial site at Norden, Corfe Castle, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 91, 187 (Article in serial). SWX811.

<10> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 598 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(230) NORDEN (SY 98 SE). Inhumation Burials, Floors and Occupation Debris, including objects from a Kimmeridge shale industry, have been found above the 50 ft. contour in the Norden Clay Works, some 300 yds. N. of the Corfe gap in the Chalk range.
In and perhaps before 1882 several burials in 'stone coffins', probably slab cists, were found in the Matcham pits (957826), with remains thought to belong to a road at a depth of 18 ins., and, nearby, a 'fine collection of Roman pottery', mostly 'urn-shaped vessels, decorated with a lozenge pattern around the neck'. These vessels, preserved by Lord Eldon but not traced, were thought to indicate the proximity of a kiln.
Roman remains have been found recently between the clay-pits beside the Wareham road. N.E. of the road were surface finds (956827), remains of a stone-paved floor with pottery, some of the 4th century (95788261), a small cist containing Romano-British sherds (95648265), and, beyond the railway, a chalk and limestone floor at a depth of 2½ ft., associated with a coin and sherds of the 4th century (95948264). Finds S.W. of the road occurred between the mineral railway (95568266) and 'North Castle' (95788250). A deposit 1 ft. thick of chalk and limestone capped with small stone blocks, 1½ ft. below ground surface but rising N.W. in conformity with it, was exposed in 1964 in an excavation 3 ft. square (95558266). It was observed in a pipe-line trench for 6 yds. to 10 yds. S.E. until destroyed by a clay-pit, and is possibly a road, perhaps that claimed to have been found c. 1882. It overlay Roman material including a coarse ware sherd of the early 2nd century and part of an oblong shale plaque with incised geometric decoration (in Christchurch Museum). A piece of a carved shale table leg (in D.C.M.) and some 20 small siltstone cubes, perhaps unused tesserae, were unstratified except for a single cube below the deposit.
Cores from turned shale armlets are said to have been common at Norden; a few are in D.C.M. Also in D.C.M. are two more shale plaques, one circular, found before 1859 with a pair of bronze dividers in lowering the road N.W. of St. Edward's Bridge, and part of a carved table leg from a clay-pit near Hill Coppices (95068257; Ant. J. XXXI (1951), 193–4). These objects suggest a manufactory of furniture and other objects of shale besides armlets. (Dorset Procs. VIII (1887), XXXIX–XL;XIII (1892), 188; LXXIII (1951), 86–9; LXXV (1953), 69; LXXVII (1955), 126, 150; LXXVIII (1956), 91; LXXXVI (1964), 116–7; LXXXVII (1965), 111–3; LXXXVIII (1966), 119; LXXXIX (1967), 145; Purbeck Papers I (1859–60), 225; II (1867), 53–4; Hutchins I (1861), 471; H. J. Moule, Dorchester Antiquities (2nd edn. 1906), 44.)'

<11> Farrar, R A H, 1973, The Techniques and Sources of Romano-British Black-Burnished Ware (Article in monograph). SDO16399.

<12> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1973, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1972, 88 (Serial). SDO72.

<13> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1974, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1973, 91 (Serial). SDO73.

<14> Swan V G, 1984, The Pottery Kilns of Roman Britain, 263 (Monograph). SWX2878.

<15> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1985, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1984, 118 (Serial). SDO84.

<16> Barnes, I, 1987, BP Access Road I. Preliminary Archaeological Assessment (Unpublished document). SDO138.

<17> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1988, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1987, 129-130 (Serial). SDO87.

<18> Bellamy, P, 2018, North Castle Field, Norden, Corfe Castle, Dorset. Archaeological Observations and Recording of New Water Supply (Unpublished document). SDO16440.

<19> Royal Air Force, 14-MAR-1945, RAF 106G/LA/194 257-58 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13654.

<20> Geomatics, 2011, Lidar DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO13637.

<21> Historic England, Historic England Archive, P11453 (Index). SDO14738.

PART OF AN OBLONG SHALE PLAQUE WITH GEOMETRIC DESIGN

<22> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456816 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<23> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456833 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<24> Historic England, Historic England Archive (Index). SDO14738.

Object Number Object Title Scope And Content
BB90/00340 ROMAN WELL
BB90/00403 UNCAPTIONED VIEW OF SITE
BB90/00404 SHAFT OF WELL
BB90/00405 FLOOR OF SITE
BB90/00406 STEPS FROM NORTH
BB90/00407 SHAFT WALL OF WELL
BB90/00408 VIEW FROM S. N/S WALL AND TRIAL TRENCH
BB90/00409 WELL FROM NORTH
BB90/00410 TO ILLUSTRATE ARCH. FEATURE RELATING TO POSTHOLES IN DOORWAYS AT THIS SITE
BB90/00412 UNCAPTION PHOTOGRAPH
BB90/00413 THRESHOLD SLABS
BB90/00414 SMALL EXCAVATION BY P.A.B. OF THE E/W RIDGE
BB90/00415 S.END OF N/S WALL(CHALF) & LIMESTONE WALL RUNNING E. WITH DRAINAGE DITCH BETWEEN
BB90/00416 N/E CORNER OF BUILDING E. OF WELL
BB90/00417 6" WIDE CHALK WALL FROM N.
BB90/00418 CORNER BETWEEN N/S WALL AND W.END. E/W WALL WITH E.THRESHOLD
BB90/00419 AREA S. OF E/W WALL & N/S WALL IN FOREGROUND
BB90/00420 VIEW FROM ABOVE S. NORDEN WELL SITE. REMAINS OF FLAG FLOOR ON N/W CORNER OF ROOM
BB90/00421 INTERIOR OF BUILDING - FLAG FLOOR
BB90/00422 LOOKING N. TO THE SOCKETED THRESHOLD STONES
BB90/00423 SHOWING DITCH CUT THROUGH HEARTH
BB90/00424 W. EDGE OF WELL - WALL SEEN TO RIGHT & CRUDE FLAGSTONE HEARTH
BB90/00425 S.END OF N/S WELL ON S.FLANK OF RIDGE AND JUST N. OF SOUTHERN STREAM
BB90/00426 W. OF WELL LOOKING E. SHOWING CRUDE HEARTH & WELL WALL 6' AWAY
BB90/00427 FOUND BY P.A.B ON FLAGSTONE FLOOR E. OF N/S WALL. NF VESSEL
BB90/00428 ALTAR STONE
BB90/00429 MASONRY BLOCKS
BB90/00430 POTTERY VESSELS
BB90/00431 FOUND BY P.A.B. ON FLAGSTONE FLOOR LEVEL E. OF N/S WALL
BB90/00432 WELL AND STEPS LOOKING NORTH
BB90/00433 6" WIDE CHALK WALL RUNNING N/S FROM N/E
BB90/00434 R/B POTS FROM WELL FILLING & FLAGON HANDLE FROM RUBBLE ON FLOOR OF BUILDING
BB90/00435 TWO MUGS FOUND IN WELL
BB90/00436 KIMMERIDGE SHALE TABLE LEG
BB90/00437 ALTAR STONES
BB90/00438 R/B POTS FOUND IN WELL-FILLING & FLAGON HANDLE FROM RUBBLE ON FLOOR OF BUILDING
BB90/00439 R/B TERRACOTTA FIGURE FOUND IN HEARTH BY P.A.B. (6" LONG)
BB90/00440 BRONZE FLAGON FOUND UNDER POST ROMAN SLAB TRACKWAY
BB90/00441 FOUND BY P.A.B. EXCAV. OF N/W CORNER OF BUILDING IN RUBBLE ABOVE FLAGSTONE FLOOR LEVEL
BB90/00442 BRONZE JUG FOUND UNDER LARGE FLAGS - S.E. CORNER
BB90/00443 N.OF CLAY RLWY. BRONZE JUG FROM BELOW POST RO.FLAGSTONE TRACK.
BB90/00445 FLINT ARTEFACTS FROM THIS AND GENERAL AREA
BB90/00446 VIEW LOOKING DOWN WELL SHAFT
BB90/00447 VIEW OF FUNNEL-SHAPED SEMI-CIRCULAR CONSTRUCTION FORMING 5'
BB90/00458 GENERAL VIEW OF SITE
BB90/00459 GENERAL VIEW OF SITE
BB90/00460 GENERAL VIEW OF SITE
BB90/00461 TOP OF WELL SHAFT
BB90/00462 PART OF TEMPLE BLDNG & WELL FROM E. DOORWAY SLABS IN E/W WALL FOUNDATION
BB90/00463 ALTAR STONE IN SITU
BB90/00464 N/E CORNER OF BLDNG. E. OF WALL SHOWING CORNER OF SANDSTONE BLOCK E/W WALL FOUNDATIONS
BB90/00465 SECTION OF E/W WALL BETWEEN TWO THRESHOLDS
BB90/00466 N/E CORNER OF BLDNG SHOWING E/W LIMESTONE WALL
BB90/00467 LOOKING E. EARLY DIG ALONG THE BANK E/W VIEW TO E OF N/S WALL
BB90/00468 VIEW FROM N. SHOWING 2 TOP STEPS BUILT INTO E.WALL OF WELL SHAFT
BB90/00469 OVERGROWN NATURE OF SITE. FRGRD SHOWS TOP OF FLIGHT OF STAIRS
BB90/00470 VIEW FROM N.LOOKING AT PART.EXPOSED WELL UNDER AN OVERGROWN E/W BANK
BB90/00471 THINLY COVERED AFTER SHARG EXCAV. JUNCT.OF E/W WALL & N/S WALL
BB90/00472 TWO BLOCKS OF MASONRY WITH POSTHOLES FOR POST SUPPORTS
BB90/00473 VIEW LOOKING S. FOREGROUND WESTERN THRESHOLD
BB90/00477 LOOKING DOWN FUNNEL-SHAPED WELL-SHAFT - MOST OF FLIGHT SHOWING
BB90/00478 LOOKING DOWN W.FROM TOP OF RIDGE ON E/W WALL & TWO SEPARATED THRESHOLDS
BB90/00479 FOREGROUND, N/S WELL, RIGHT TO LEFT WITH E END OF WALL
BB90/00480 LOOKING W. FOREGROUND WESTERN DOORWAY THROUGH DRAIN COVER
BB90/00481 E. SECTION OF E/W WALL INC. E.THRESHOLD SLABS WITH POST SUPPORT NICHES
BB90/00482 LOOKING W. N/S WALL IN FOREGROUND - E/W WALL IN BACKGROUND
BB90/00483 VIEW FROM N. SHOWING STEP CONTEMP. WITH E.WALL OF WELL SHAFT
BB90/00484 SHOWING W. WALL OF FUNNEL SHAPED STRUCTURE BUILD OF SANDSTONE
BB90/00485 VIEW OF WELL FROM ABOVE
BB90/00532 WELL-OBLIQUE VIEW
BB90/00533 TEMPLE WITH WATER COVERED FLOOR
BB90/00538 WELL- OBLIQUE VIEW
BB90/00541 TEMPLE - WATER COVERED FLOOR
BB90/00550 ROMAN WELL
BB90/00561 4' SECT. OF DRAIN TO W. OF BLDNG. DRAIN COVER SLAB AND EASTERN SUPPORT WALL BRIDING E/W DITCH CUT IN SAND.
BB90/00569 2 MUGS FOUND IN WELL
BB90/00570 FOUND ON FLAGSTONE FLOOR-FLUTED GRAY BROWN NEW FOREST VESSEL
BB90/00571 FOUND ON FLAGSTONE FLOOR EAST OF WALL: SMALL FLUTED N.F. VASE
BB90/00572 GENERAL VIEW OF SITE
BB90/00573 ALTAR STONE
BB90/00574 WELL
BB90/00575 FOUND IN WELL

Record last edited

Mar 2 2024 7:18AM