Monument record MDO8095 - Roman salt boiling site and inhumations, Hobarrow Bay, Tyneham

This site consists of an oval area with its long axis orientated approx. North-South and measuring 52.0m. It is 37.0m wide and its entire boundary is marked by the sudden cessation of nettles, rabbit burrows and debris which thickly cover the interior. The western half is further marked by an outer bank 2.0m wide and 0.4m high. Within the southern half of this area is a mound 1.8m high,27.0m North-South and 37.0m East-West. The site terminates in the extreme south with a sharp slope some 2.0m high which itself is dominated by a cliff falling sheer to the sea.

The northern half of the site gives the impression of having been turned over in latter years and it seems probable that the mound, at one time, extended the full 52.0m of the area in addition to that which has fallen into the sea by cliff erosion.

Whereas within the entire area pieces of briquetage, burnt shale and Iron Age pottery can be freely seen, the sharp slope above the cliff edge is the most revealing spot. Here, at a depth of 2.0m from the top of the mound, were scratched pot supports of briquetage of a type found on salt boiling sites and one sherd of IA pottery which was resting on a human bone and pieces of bone which were probably human. They bore no trace of having been burned.

It is not possible to state whether this was the original level of bones and pottery, whether they were originally associated or whether they had slipped from different and higher levels. Exposed to view were friable masses of solid red material which appeared as though moulded in a round flat-bottomed pot. A salt boiling site extending from the Iron Age probably to the Romano-British.<2>


Hobarrow Bay. An inhumation burial and occupation debris from a salt-boiling industry come from a mound at the cliff edge below the 100ft contour 1/2 mile SSW of South Egliston and about 300 yds SE of the black- stone outcrop of the Kimmeridge Shale at cliff-top in Brandy Bay. The site consists of a mound, some 75ft in diameter and 8ft high; extending from this is a roughly circular dished area of some 120ft diameter. Excavation by Miles to a stated depth of 20 to 30ft revealed pottery, briquetage, objects of iron, shale, bone and horn, animal bones, shells, clinker, and beds of clay, ashes, and burnt shale. A covered stone cist at 5ft contained an inhumation, another at 12ft, below human bones, had ashes and snail shells; a third of shale, and slightly lower, contained shale ash. In the centre at an unspecified depth, a stone wall about 3ft thick, with divisional slabs' set off it, ran NE. Two shale armlet cores were found at 20ft. Excavations in the mounds revealed finds in the same vein, i.e. shale, ash, clinker and `briquetage'. The pottery found was mainly Durotrigian coarse ware, suggesting occupation beginning in Iron Age 'C' or early Roman times, but includes a few Iron Age 'A' and late Roman sherds. <3>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1950, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1949, 52-53 (Serial). SDO49.

<2> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 17-SEP-52 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 613 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(41) HOBARROW BAY (SY 87 NE). An Inhumation Burial and Occupation Debris from a salt-boiling industry come from a mound at the cliff edge below the 100 ft. contour ½ m. S.S.W. of South Egliston (89547909), and about 300 yds. S.E. of the 'blackstone' outcrop of the Kimmeridge Shale at cliff-top in Brandy Bay.
The mound, on an E. slope and partly sectioned by the cliff, is now some 75 ft. in diameter and 8 ft. high, with indications that the deposits composing it fill a hollow of unknown depth. A roughly circular dished area of some 120 ft. diameter extending from its N. and W. base and yielding pottery and salting 'briquetage', may indicate its extent before exploitation for use as marl.
Excavation by Miles to a stated depth of 20 ft. to 30 ft. revealed pottery, 'briquetage', objects of iron, shale, bone and horn, animal bones, shells, clinker, and beds of clay, ashes and burnt shale to a depth of 20 ft. if not throughout. A covered stone cist at 5 ft. contained an inhumation; another at 12 ft., below human bones, had ashes and snail shells; a third of shale, slightly lower, contained shale ash. In the centre, at unspecified depth, a stone wall about 3 ft. thick, with 'divisional slabs' set off it, ran N.E. A lathe-turned shale armlet core of Calkin's class A occurred at 12 ft. and another apparently of class B at 20 ft.
There have been small excavations in the mound by the Rev. A. J. Watson, Dr. W. H. C. Frend and Mr. J. B. Calkin, and objects have been collected by Dr. Henrietta Davies and R.C.H.M. Frend found a deep layer of shale ash, clinker and 'briquetage' below 1½ ft. of shaly clay topsoil, and observed heaps of 'briquetage' alternating with layers of shale ash in the cliff section, the thickest of which was 10 ft.
The material from the above sources (in D.C.M. and London University Institute of Archaeology) consists mainly of 'briquetage', some pottery, a broken hand-cut shale armlet rough and several turned armlet cores of classes A and C. The clinker may derive from high combustion of shale, here clearly used as fuel in salt-boiling. The 'briquetage' of this industry consists of many roughly hand-moulded clay supports with flat or grooved ends, complete examples ranging from 3 ins. to 7½ ins. long; a few small irregular squeezed lumps; many fragments of thick straight-sided containers of pebbly clay with rounded corners; a few pieces of thinnerwalled vessels of doubtful shape, some with knife-cut rims or edges, and several bun-shaped pads. The pottery, mainly Durotrigian coarse ware, suggests occupation beginning in Iron Age 'C' or early Roman times but includes a few Iron Age 'A' and late Roman sherds. (W. A. Miles, The Deverel Barrow (1826), 51–3; Purbeck Papers I (1859–60), 217; Hutchins I, 627; W. H. C. Frend, 'Iron Age and Roman Sites in Purbeck' (MS. in D.C.M., 1936), 5–6; Dorset Procs. LXX (1948), 56, 58; LXXI (1949), 52–3; LXXV (1953), 69; LXXXIV (1962), 140–2.)’

<3.1> Shipp, W, and Hodson, J W (eds), 1861, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. 3rd edition. Volume 1, p627 (Monograph). SWX4496.

<4> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 176 (Index). SDO147.

‘Site eroding from a cliff to the S.W. The cliff edge is permanent pasture. Beyond a fence to the N.E. is a field ploughed and in ley pasture. 7/7/D.’

<5> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AO52/F58/3 (Index). SDO14738.

SALT BOILING MOUNDS - INTERIOR MOUND FROM WEST (IA/PROB RB)

<6> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AO52/F58/4 (Index). SDO14738.

SALT BOILING MOUNDS - GENERAL VIEW FROM WEST.(IA/PROB. RB)

<7> Historic England, Historic England Archive, OS52/F58/3 (Index). SDO14738.

HOBARROW BAY THE INNER MOUND FROM WEST, TYNEHAM.

<8> Historic England, Historic England Archive, OS52/F58/4 (Index). SDO14738.

HOBARROW BAY GENERAL VIEW FROM WEST, TYNEHAM.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455093 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 6 2024 4:36PM