Monument record MDO7875 - Several burials probably Romano British, Kimmeridge

Two stone cists containing the remains of an adult and child were found in 1944, and another human skeleton was recorded near here in 1952. All probably Romano British in date.

Burials in the area of the quarries at the west end of Smedmore Hill have been reported since 1929, when a Late Bronze Age urn and two inhumations were revealed by blasting at around SY 91858004.

Nine or ten burials, probably all extended in covered cists, have been found since 1944, when a bulldozer belonging to the American forces exposed two stone cists on the edge of the track leading to the upper quarry from the road to Bradle. They were situated side by side at about SY 91908002, and were of a young adult and a child, extended north-south with heads to the north; the longer cist had shale ends.

In April 1952 a Middle Bronze Age urn (now in Dorset County Museum) containing the cremated bones of a young child, was found in the upper quarry at about SY 91888004.

Of the other inhumations burials, most have been exposed in the east face of the sunken approach. One, extended west by south with the head to the west, was near the entrance at SY 91938007, and three were side by side some 18 yards further south at SY 91928005. Two of these, containing adults with heads WSW, were almost wholly of shale slabs; one of them, 6 feet 4 inches long, had no end slabs.

Human bones have also been observed in the west face of the approach, and in 1967 another cist largely of shale, with an adult burial aligned east-west was found at SY 91968012 on the edge of the field to the north.

Apart from the Middle and Late Bronze Age urns, both probably with cremations, the evidence points to a Roman date for the cemetery, or possibly Iron Age 'C' or sub-Roman. <1> <2> <4> <5>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1953, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1952, 49-50 (Serial). SDO52.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1960, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1959, 94-97 (Serial). SDO59.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY 91938002) Bronze Age Burial Ground (NAT)

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1968, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1967, 145 (Serial). SDO67.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 608 (Monograph). SDO150.

<6> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 200 (Index). SDO147.

Disused quarry used as a carpark. S.E. of a road junction. E. of the quarry is a regularly ploughed field. 7/7/E.

<7> Historic England, Historic England Archive, F52/104/1 (Index). SDO14738.

REMAINS OF CIST LOOKING SOUTH-EAST. PART OF A BA BURIAL GROUND

<8> Historic England, Historic England Archive, F52/104/2 (Index). SDO14738.

REMAINS OF CIST LOOKING SOUTH-EAST. PART OF A BA BURIAL GROUND

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456952 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 11 2023 7:16PM