Monument record MDO7706 - Battery Bank, a linear earthwork, East Stoke

Linear earthwork of probable later prehistoric date, comprising a bank with accompanying ditch. Its known extent runs from SY 84438941, near Long Thorns Farm, to SY 88948747, near Jubilee Plantation. Gravel quarrying has destroyed parts of the earthwork, which now comprises several individual sections of varying length. There is no clear connection between Battery Bank and the earthwork complex on Worgret Heath, the two currently being separated by some 750 metres.

Battery Bank consists of a bank with a ditch on the outer side, the course of which is irregular. The bank is composed of earth and small flints and the ditch in preserved sections appears to be wide but shallow. Gravel workings have erased much of the earthwork and threaten further sections. While the earthwork appears to be of a defensive nature, no surface finds were made during field investigations. <2>

The curious, and as yet undated, Battery Banks immediately west of Wareham which run for a distance of four miles along the ridge-top between the Frome and Piddle rivers may well belong to the final stand of the Romano-British against the Saxon invasion as seen at Bokerley Dyke (Lin 74) and Combs Ditch (ST 80 SE 48). <3>

SY 844894 - SY 891874. Battery Banks. a series of discontinuous stretches of dyke runs south-east towards Wareham along a heathland ridge. At the south east end the earthwork is on the ridge crest but at the north west it is on the south slope. The remains consist of a bank 20ft to 33ft wide and 1ft to 2ft high with a ditch on the north, 18ft to 20ft wide and 1ft to 1 1/2ft deep. The surviving lengths, possibly once continuous over 3 1/2 miles, have been much damaged, especially by gravel quarrying: none of the gaps are certainly original. There is no certain connection between this boundary dyke and the complex on Worgret Heath (see SY 89 NW 22) commencing 750 yds from its south-east end.

The individual sections comprise: 'A' - SY 84438941 to SY 84658929. Three hundred yards of earthwork, very slight and mostly only traceable on air photographs. <4>

Battery Bank - between SY 86558830 and SY 86758828 the feature has been completely destroyed by quarrying.

A 145m long section of this monument is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs taken in 1947 <7-8> to the north of Longthorns Farm camping and caravan site. It was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1926-27 (Map). SWX1540.

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 19-AUG-52 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 1, 44 (Monograph). SDO148.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 518 (Monograph). SDO150.

<5> Smith, R J C, and Trott, M R, 1989, East-West Dorset Link Main, Wessex Water Engineering Services; evaluation (Unpublished document). SDO179.

‘The Battery Bank SY84528936.
An attempt was made to locate the Battery Bank on the line of the pipe trench on the west verge of the Wool to Bere Regis road. Possible earthworks visible on each side of the road were very low and could not be positively identified as the Battery Bank.
A series of auger holes, spaced initially 10m apart were bored in the roadside verge across the projected line of the earthwork starting well to the south of its possible location. Where there was some suggestion of a ditch additional boreholes were made at 2m intervals to refine the location. These augurs suggested a possible ditch features at SY84528931, c 50m south of the projected line of this feature, although the results were not conclusive and they confirmed that the upper 0.5m of deposits adjacent to the road appeared to have been disturbed and mixed.’

<6> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1990, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1989, 111 (Serial). SDO89.

<7> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 5063 (Aerial Photograph). SWX8265.

<8> Royal Air Force, 17-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/2018 4054-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13238.

<9> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455138 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1096782 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 20 2024 6:20PM