Monument record MDO7484 - Iron Age settlement at Eldon Seat, Encombe, Corfe Castle

Excavations in 1963-4 by Cunliffe revealed an Iron Age settlement consisting of huts, hearths and a small kiln. A lynchet containing Iron Age pottery at the base (and Roman pottery at the top was also recorded). A shale working site was also present.

Eldon Seat Encombe. Huts of Iron Age A and occupation debris from Iron Age A to the Roman period, including waste from shale armlet industries, have been excavated near the Kimmeridge Clay cliffs W of Freshwater Steps, about 250 ft above sea level (939776). Excavations by Cunliffe in 1963-4 uncovered evidence of three huts and associated Iron Age finds. Evidence of hearths and a small kiln was also found. Part of a lynchet crossing the site had Durotrigian sherds towards its base and Roman towards the top. Finds connected with shale industry were made all over the site but other objects suggest normal domestic activities as well. Previous excavations here, including those of about 1936 which are probably wrongly recorded as at 94097748 some 250 yds nearer Freshwater Steps, were thought to indicate the presence of roughly cobbled floors and drystone walls. They produced abundant material like that found in 1963-4 with Romano-British sherds of the 1st or 2nd century and perhaps the early 3rd century. <2-4> <6> <7>

There are no physical remains of the settlement, currently under a cereal crop in an area which is ploughed annually. <9>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1950, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1949, 52 (Serial). SDO49.

<2> Farrar R A H, 1961, Excavations near Eldon Seat, Encombe, Corfe Castle, 83-84 (Article in serial). SWX2790.

<3> Cunliffe B, 1963, Summary Report on Excavations Near Eldon Seat, Encombe., 98-99 (Article in serial). SWX2480.

<4> Cunliffe B, 1964, Excavations near Eldon Seat, Encombe, Corfe Castle, 1964., 109 (Article in serial). SWX2792.

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1965, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1964, 109 (Serial). SDO64.

<6> Cunliffe B and Phillipson D W, 1968, Excavations at Eldon's Seat, Encombe Dorset. (Parts I, II and IV), 191-237 (Article in serial). SWX2793.

<7> 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.

‘(240) Eldon Seat, Encombe (SY 97 NW). Huts of Iron Age 'A', and Occupation Debris from Iron Age 'A' to the Roman period including waste from shale armlet industries, have been excavated near the Kimmeridge Clay cliffs W. of Freshwater Steps, about 250 ft. above sea level (939776).
Excavations by Prof. B. Cunliffe, in 1963–4, where an area with Iron Age and Roman surface debris is crossed by an E.-W. lynchet of Ancient Field Group (22), revealed remains of an early phase of Iron Age 'A' showing features derived from the Late Bronze Age, succeeded by a phase associated with haematite-coated pottery. A circular hut of the earlier phase, 22 ft. in diameter with post-holes and a S.E. porch, was associated with a paved area to S. overlying some earlier post-holes. A broadly contemporary hut to N. was of 24 ft. diameter with remains of a clay and earth floor, a clay hearth and a small adjacent clay oven partly lined with sherds. Between them slighter traces of a hut perhaps 17 ft. by 24 ft., floored with broken limestone and with a hearth of stone slabs capped with clay, belonged to the later phase. Debris from a hand-cut shale armlet industry was associated with both phases, but other objects suggest normal domestic activities such as spinning and weaving, especially in the second phase. The lynchet, apparently developing after this occupation had ceased, had Durotrigian sherds towards its base and early Roman above, doubtless derived from nearby occupation of Iron Age 'C' or early Roman date, with evidence for a latheturned armlet industry, which Austen also recorded in the vicinity in 1856.
Previous excavations here, including those of c. 1936 which are probably wrongly recorded as at 94097748 some 250 yds. nearer Freshwater Steps, were thought to indicate the presence of roughly cobbled floors and drystone walls. They produced abundant material like that found in 1963–4, with Romano-British sherds of the 1st or 2nd century and perhaps the early 3rd century. (J. H. Austen, Purbeck Papers I (1856–7), 90; Dorset Procs. LXXI (1949), 52; LXXV (1953), 69; LXXVII (1955), 150; LXXXIII (1961), 83–4; LXXXV (1963), 98–9; LXXXVI (1964), 109.)’

<8> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1971, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1970, 156-157 (Serial). SDO70.

<9> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, 28-APR-86 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<9> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 28-APR-86 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<10> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456546 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 7 2022 4:56PM