Monument record MDO8001 - Ulwell Saxon cemetery, Swanage

A Saxon inhumation cemetery recorded during excavations at Shepherds Farm, Ulwell in 1949 and 1982. The cemetery comprises fifty-eight graves, many of which were stone-lined ranging from partially stone-lined graves to cist burials lined with split limestone slabs, occasionally with surviving stone lids. Radiocarbon dating from four of the burials give a seventh century date for the cemetery.

SZ 023809. An extended skeleton of a young person was exposed at Ulwell during trenching at the back of a new house called Sheppard's Farm in 1949. The skeleton lay at a depth of 4 feet in a cist of upright limestone slabs. Subsequent examination by J B Calkin led to the discovery, a few feet away, of three similar cists also containing skeletons of juveniles. One of the limestone uprights had a hole near the centre of one side and appeared to be a re-used roofing slab, similar to several found at the Romano-British site at Gallows Gore. A Roman date for the burials appears most probable. <1>

Authy 1 report is erroneous. There were only three cists, which were discovered by Miss Bloomfield in whose garden they lay at SZ 02268092. Two of them contained the remains of an adult and the other the remains of a child; all were in a sitting position.No pottery or indications of a mound were discovered. Miss Bloomfield knew nothing of one of the slabs having been a re-used roofing tile and believed the burials to be Bronze Age. <2>

Farrar acknowledged the conflict of evidence concerning the cist burials as recorded in the 1949 Proceedings (Authy 1) and the Ordnance Survey archaeological index (Authy 2) but stated that further enquiry has so far failed to determine the facts in dispute. The presence of a re-used Roman roofing tile - although not recollected by the owner (Authy 2) - tended to confirm a Roman date. Farrar added that it was difficult to establish a pre-Roman Iron Age date for any cist burial in the Durotrigian region. <3>

An extensive cemetery was found to the north and west of this site in 1982. Although only an iron knife and a late Roman coin were found with the 55 inhumations, it appears to be late-Roman or early-Medieval. <7>

Excavations in 1982 located 55 graves, many of which were stone-lined ranging from partially stone-lined graves to cist burials lined with split limestone slabs, occasionally with surviving stone lids. Radiocarbon dating from four of the burials give a seventh century date for the cemetery. <9>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1950, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1949, 68 (Serial). SDO49.

<2> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 02-SEP-1952 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<2.1> Bloomfield, Miss, Oral: Miss Bloomfield (owner), Sheppard's Farm, Ulwell, Swanage (Verbal communication). SDO19737.

<3> Farrar, R A H, 1966, Cist Burials at Ulwell, Swanage. (Article in serial). SWX7671.

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1967, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1966, 120-121 (Serial). SDO66.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 611 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(92) Ulwell Farm (SZ 08 SW). Inhumation Burials were found in 1949 about 150 ft. above sea level on Lower Greensand about 150 yds. N.N.W. of the farmhouse (02268092). Fragmentary remains of three skeletons close together were in cists of limestone slabs; one pierced slab was probably a Roman roof-tile. (Dorset Procs. LXXI (1949), 68; LXXXVIII (1966), 120–1.).'

<5> Bellamy, P, Brookes, I, Cox, P and Woodward, P J, 1983, 36. Swanage, Ulwell (Article in serial). SDO14048.

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1983, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1982, 190 (Serial). SDO82.

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

<7> Society for Medieval Archaeology, 1983, Medieval Archaeology : journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology 27 (Serial). SDO16951.

‘SWANAGE, ULWELL (SZ 0226 8092). P. Bellamy, I. Brooks, P. Cox and P.]. Woodward of Wessex Archaeological Committee excavated an extensive cemetery discovered at Shepherds Farm. Three cist burials had previously been recorded at the site in 1949 when the present farm building was constructed. These were extended burials in limestone cists. One of the limestone slabs used in the cist construction had a pierced hole which was suggestive of a Roman roofing tile. Extensive machine topsoil stripping over approximately 250 sq. m uncovered a further 55 inhumations cut into a complex greensand and drift-chalk geology. These graves were organized in a series of six rows running N.-S., with individual graves orientated E.-W. The cemetery portion excavated was lozenge-shaped; the rows were 'stepped' so that the axis of the cemetery ran SW. to NE. The number of graves in each row varied from two to eight, sometimes with pronounced gaps, but with the burials normally spaced from 0.8 to 1 m apart. However, reuse of previous grave positions frequently occurred. In these cases, the earlier burial was moved across to allow the insertion of the later burial into the second grave cut. In all cases the orientation of the second burial cut was consistently slightly S. or W., in marked contrast to the E.-W. regularity of the primary grave alignments. This may indicate that this area of the cemetery was used on two distinct and separate occasions. The inhumations were supine and fully extended, with heads to the W. Burials of both sexes were present with an age range of perhaps less than one year to mature adults. The burials were unaccompanied by any grave goods, apart from one instance of an iron knife laid with its point to the foot of the grave and placed centrally above the pelvis (grave 90). A single late Roman (3rd-/4th-century A.D.) coin occurred in the very top fill of grave 9. Some burials were contained in cists constructed of limestone slabs, as were the burials located in 1949. These earlier discoveries would have been in the SE. area of the cemetery. Some of the burials only had a slab laid flat across the top of the grave. Toward the S. of the excavated portion, several graves were observed to be cut into pre-existing lynchets. These fields and the inserted cemetery had subsequently been ploughed into larger arable units. The present field boundary 10 m to the W. of the cemetery area excavated probably belongs to this later arable field arrangement and may lie over a remaining portion of the cemetery. It is probable that some of the stone covers to the graves were disturbed during this arable episode or during more recent land use. Some broken slabs were recorded in the modern ploughsoil. Similarly, some slabs were removed during machine stripping, particularly where lynchet soils were substantially removed by this method. However it was clear that all graves had been cu t in to the drift geology. It is however possible that smaller child burials could have been missed during the machining of the lynchet soils if they had not been cut to this level. The character of this cemetery, its stratigraphic insertion into earlier arable fields (Iron Age/Roman?), the late Roman coin in one grave fill, the possible Roman roof-tile, and the inclusion of an iron knife in one grave are indicative of a late/post-Roman or possible Saxon cemetery. The range of age and sex within the cemetery also points to continuous use of the cemetery by family groups over several generations. The location of any associated settlement is not known. The organization of the cemetery and the cist burial type have a close parallel at Cannington, Somerset. There is no comparable cemetery in Purbeck, although isolated cist burials are known locally, of late Iron Age and Roman periods where dating is possible. This cemetery would also bear some comparisons with other Dorset cemeteries, notably the late Roman cemetery at Poundbury and the Saxon cemetery at Bradford Peverell.’

<8> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1989, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1988, 37-47 (Serial). SDO88.

<9> Cherryson, A K, 2006, Gazetteer of Early Medieval Sites (Unpublished document). SDO17464.

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 457640 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 15 2023 8:12AM