Monument record MDO7474 - Cists recorded at Blashenwell, Corfe Castle

Inhumation Burials, Floors and Occupation Debris including waste from both hand-cut and lathe-turned shale armlet industries and ranging from Iron Age 'A' to Roman times, have been found in and near the old marl-pit (951805) in the calcareous tufa deposit N. of Blashenwell Farm. The site is about 150 ft above sea level, close to the Purbeck marble outcrop.

The geology and ecology of the tufa, apparently deposited by the neighbouring stream draining from a synclinal trough in the Upper Purbeck Beds and containing a Mesolithic industry (SY 98 SE 15) have been much studied. Deposition of tufa ceased before the Roman period and was overlaid by 1ft or more of topsoil containing Roman debris and a mixed Roman and post-Roman fauna indicating locally open conditions.

A contracted skeleton of a youth in a Purbeck stone cist was found in 1895 some 4ft deep in the tufa at the S end of the pit (95188047). In 1908 another cist, with floor and cover slabs, containing an adult skeleton probably extended with head to N was exposed but not cleared nearby in the S face above the tufa a few feet from the road, while indications of at least two more graves were seen in the side of the road cutting. Some 6ft to 8ft W of the cist a compact mass of unmortared herringbone masonry some 2ft high and 4ft long or wide, appeared in the face, based in the tufa.

In 1936 Dr W H C Frend recorded 'floors of laid paving stone, traces of hearths and a large amount of coarse pottery and 'coal money' ..... brought to light through the construction of a farm road to the farmhouse'. In 1938 two vessels found near human vertebrae in topsoil at the roadside between the pit and the farmhouse were exhibited at the Institute of Archaeology, London; one of these, in the Institute's collection, is of Iron Age 'C' or early Roman date. The site, now under plough, yields Iron Age 'A', 'C', and Romano-British pottery, flint and shale waste from a hand-cut armlet industry, and equivalent waste from manufacture of turned armlets, mainly in and near the S end of the pit. Stone slabs may indicate a floor some 20 yards SW (95168045). Photographs of the 1908 discoveries are in D.C.M. and R.C.H.M. records. Some remains were noted in 1965 a quarter of a mile NNW.

In 1965 a tightly contracted inhumation facing E with head N was found between two end slabs, resting on undisturbed tufa at a depth of 2 1/2ft. A later pit, cutting through the grave but avoiding the burial, which was perhaps of the Early Bronze Age, contained a Romano-British sherd. <1>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 599 (Monograph). SDO150.

<1.1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1896, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 67-75 (Serial). SDO10.

<1.2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1908, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club for 1908, xl (Serial). SDO19.

<1.3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1949, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1948, 70 (Serial). SDO48.

<1.4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1955, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1953, 52, 69 (Serial). SDO53.

<1.5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1966, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1965, 97-98 (Serial). SDO65.

<1.6> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1967, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1966, 129 (Serial). SDO66.

<1.7> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1968, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1967, 145 (Serial). SDO67.

<1.8> Frend, W H C, 1936, MS in Dorset County Museum Iron Age and Roman Sites in Purbeck (Unpublished document). SWX2504.

<2> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456848 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 23 2023 1:46PM