Monument record MDO8093 - Iron Age/Roman occupation,Tyneham Gwyle, Tyneham

Frend, W H C, 1950, Some Further Iron Age and Roman Sites in the Isle of Purbeck. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (Article in serial). SWX2493.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1950, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1949, 51-53 (Serial). SDO49.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 612-3 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(40) WORBARROW BAY (SY 87 NE, 88 SE). Inhumation Burials, and Occupation Debris perhaps Iron Age to late Roman, with evidence for shale-working and perhaps Purbeck marble and salt industries, have been found on the cliffs N. of Tyneham Gwyle above the 100 ft. contour and near the Purbeck marble outcrop at Worbarrow Tout.
Remains, consisting of a layer of large stones at a depth of about 1½ ft. with darker soil above and many sherds, shale fragments and flint flakes, are visible in the cliff face for some 125 yds. (86938003 to 87017995) and may extend for some 30 yds. inland. Excavation in 1937 by Dr. W. H. C. Frend in an area over 20 yds. N.-S. (apparently about 87008000) revealed the layer of stones, including Purbeck marble from the beach, at a depth of 1½ ft. to 2 ft., in one place near the cliff edge acting as foundation for a floor of chalk blocks. Little was found on or above this layer, but black earth up to 1½ ft. thick below it contained charcoal, clay daub, much pottery, sling-stones, spindle-whorls of pot and shale, and a bronze plaque with repoussé decoration near a depression or pit in the cliff face. Other finds indicated shale-working on the site and perhaps also Purbeck marble and salt-boiling industries nearby. Evidence for the shale industry were pieces of shale, flint flakes with worn points, an armlet fragment and turned cores of classes A, B, C and D, and a deposit of 72 cores beneath a stone slab with an iron knife and arrow-head. Amongst stones used for the rough flooring were a quern-stone, a loom-weight of Purbeck marble, and part of an unfinished lugged mortar of Purbeck marble 'burr-stone'. A few pieces of salt-boiling 'briquetage' come from the site, and a coin of Commodus (180–92) from the cliffs.
The pottery including Durotrigian types is mainly of the 1st and 2nd centuries with some strays of Iron Age 'B' and perhaps 'A', but 2nd-century samian sherds were found in several places on or above natural subsoil. Common later types were rare, but an otherwise similar range of pottery collected by the excavator from the combe some 130 yds. E. (87118001) included conical flanged bowls of the 3rd or 4th century and a piece of salting 'briquetage'. Colour-coated pottery of this date came from the stream about 250 yds. S.E. (87207990).
Warne describes similar features in excavations in 1842, noting charred wheat in several places, mainly below the stone layer. The earliest accounts, by Miles and Pennie, substantiate but add few acceptable details except an inhumation in a covered stone cist. Another, all or partly of shale (D.C.M. Accessions Book, 20 Feb. 1908) was found in 1908. Objects are in D.C.M. (Dorset Procs. LXXI (1949), 51–2; LXXV (1953), 69; LXXXIX (1967), 146; W.H. C. Frend, 'Iron Age and Roman Sites in Purbeck' (MS. in D.C.M., 1936), 8–12; W. A. Miles, The Deverel Barrow (1826), 34–9; J. F. Pennie, Tale of a Modern Genius II (1827), 336–41; J. H. Austen, Purbeck Papers I (1856–7), 82; Warne, Ancient Dorset (1872), 327–9.)’

<3> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 175 (Index). SDO147.

‘Most of the site lies in permanent pasture but it is being eroded by the sea on the S.W. 7/7/D.’

Record last edited

Apr 23 2025 2:01PM