Monument record MDO801 - Iron Age and Romano-British occupation at Meadow View, Charminster

A complex of ditches recorded during an intermittent watching brief in the mid-1980s, and possibly representing two groiups or enclosures . Few finds were recovered, but two ditches contained Black Burnished Ware bead rim-and rolled rim jars suggesting a date in the first century BC/AD.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1987, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1986, 175 (Serial). SDO86.

‘OBSERVATIONS AT MEADOW VIEW, CHARMINSTER.
The site lies on the bottom slope of a spur formed at the junction of the Rivers Cerne and Frome at Charminster, some 2 kilometres north-west of Dorchester, between the existing Meadow View housing estate and the A352 Dorchester to Sherborne Road.
The stripping of topsoil from the site was noted from the Dorchester-Yeovil Road in early September 1986, and it was clear even at that distance that a series of archaeological features were cut into the chalk bedrock; ditches, enclosures and pits. As a result of these observations arrangements were made with the builders to record these features when the building trenches were cut.
Examination of the sections were recorded as a series of 14 observations (Figure 4). Some of the sectioned ditches could be associated by profile and fitted into two groups of ditches or perhaps enclosures. These associations are shown on plan:
Ditch 4/11/15: Rounded ‘V’ profile, 0.80 m to 1.0 m wide and 0.6 m to 0.8 m deep; filled with a light brown silty clay loam with occasional flint and small chalk fragments.
Ditch 6/7/14: A rounded ‘V’ profile; 1.60 m to 1.80 m wide and 1.40 m deep; filled with a reddish-brown silty clay loam with very occasional flint fragments.
A number of miscellaneous unassociated ditches also occurred:
Ditch 3: Rounded ‘V’ profile; 1.0 m wide; 0.80 m deep.
Ditch 8: Rounded profile; 1.3 m wide; 0.85 m deep.
Ditch 12: Rounded profile; 0.6 m wide; 0.7 m deep.
The stratigraphic relationship between these ditches could not be determined on site.
In addition to these ditch boundaries a number of pits were also located.
Pit 1: 3.0 m deep; quantities of nodular flint in base.
Pit 2: Cut by pit 1; 2.6 m deep; could be a natural sink hole.
Pit 5: 1.10 m deep; broken chalk fragments throughout; broken flint nodules in top.
Pit 10: 1.45 m deep; broken chalk rubble throughout (80-90 per cent); 0.25 m of ash and charcoal in base.
Few finds were recovered from the site. However ditch section 7, and pit 4 contained a few fragments of black burnished ware; bead rim bowls and rolled rim jars. These are probably of the Late Iron Age, 1st century BC/AD (Peter J. Woodward pers. comm.). …’

<2> Cottrell, T, 1997, A Summary of Archaeological Observations Made During Groundworks On Land At The Junction of Bird's Lane and North Strreet, Charminster, Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO12354.

Record last edited

Nov 7 2017 11:15AM