Monument record MDO8257 - Bindon Hill, West Lulworth

Iron Age defensive enclosure complex incorporating a hillfort - both incomplete. The remains of this site are visible as earthwork banks and ditches on aerial photographs and Lidar imagery.

SY 835803. Bindon Hill camp. Scheduled. <5>

(Circa SY 83658032) A new cable trench was dug across Bindon Hill earthworks in 1977 and revealed that the rampart of the outer defences had a maximum height of 1.15m, constructed directly on chalk bedrock. The outer ditch was 1.40m deep with a maximum width of 3.5m. No evidence of a counterscarp bank and no finds recovered from the trench. <6>

Bindon Hill earthworks represent a vast I.A. defensive enclosure complex, clearly unfinished, with a 'hillfort in similar condition incorporated at the west end. Generally both are as described by authority 2, though the outwork at Stairhole, SY 822799, has been shortened by a cliff fall. It is notable that, except for some 400m. immediately east of the entrance, 1400m. of the internal quarry ditch for the rampart is well defined and cleanly cut. On the sheltered north slope above the ditch nearly 30 scooped depressions occur at irregular intervals. They range from 4.5m. to 14m. in diameter but normally about 8m. and are cut back to a depth of between 0.2m. and 0.7m. A few are set 10m. from the ditch but most open almost to the lip but never break the line or intrude upon the ditch. It seems unlikely that they are quarrying for the rampart since there is no additional dumping and they are best explained as hut platforms. The outer ditch, 10m. to 15m. below the rampart is mostly merely a terrace which peters out 1400m. east of the entrance as a series of widely spaced alignment scoops extending in all for 200m. (See 1:2500 plan also ground photographs). Survey at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <7>

The remains of this Iron Age defensive structure are visible as earthwork banks and ditches on aerial photographs <11-13> and Lidar imagery <14>. These features were digitally plotted during the South West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (Dorset).

Bindon Hill, West Lulworth (Excavation archive). SDO20210.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1951, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1950, 80-82 (Serial). SDO50.

<2> Wheeler, Sir Mortimer, 1953, An Early Iron Age 'Beach-head' at Lulworth, Dorset (Article in serial). SWX947.

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

(SY 82428077 - SY 84808021) Dyke (NR)

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 489-492 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(53) IRON AGE EARTHWORKS, on Bindon Hill and near West Lulworth village (SY 87 NW, 88 SW; 82227992-84808021). The main defences, a bank and ditch facing N., 1⅗ miles long, were apparently intended to enclose an area of about 400 acres including Lulworth Cove, the coastal shelf and the hog-backed chalk hill, 560 ft. high. At a later stage a N. to S. bank (c) was commenced which, with a terrace above Lulworth Cove probably indicating an incomplete ditch, enclosed the western 24 acres of Bindon Hill. Thirdly a cross-ridge dyke (b) was made to cut off 12 acres at the W. tip of the hill. Both the main defences and these subsidiary earthworks are probably unfinished. Their form suggests that different gangs worked simultaneously. There is little doubt that all were built by people of the Iron Age 'A' culture, although only small portions have been excavated (for R.C.H.M. in 1950, see R. E. M. Wheeler, Ant.J. XXXIII (1953), 1-13).
The situation and arrangement of the earthworks suggest that they were the work of immigrants. The main defences, which have an entrance like that of a hill-fort, face inland covering the good natural harbour of Lulworth Cove. A stream runs into the Cove from the W. through a sheltered valley, and the undulating coastal shelf E. of the Cove is fertile. 'Celtic' fields of Ancient Field Group (16) on the N. slope of Bindon Hill, are probably later than the earthworks, which they only adjoin at one point W. of the entrance. The hill-fort of Flower's Barrow (E. Lulworth (40) ) is 1 mile to the E. but there is no evidence that the Bindon earthworks were ever linked to it, as suggested by Warne (Ancient Dorset, 41-2, 64). Between the two, on the cliff edge 1170 yds. E. of Cockpit Head, is a slight terrace, possibly a length of ditch, but even if this is ancient it is much more likely to have been related to an independent enclosure.
In the 13th century A.D. both the 'dike of Julius Caesar' on Bindon Hill and the 'dike to Starhole (Stairhole)' were recognised as boundaries (P.R.O., Calendar of Charter Rolls, II, 2116-7). In 1770 hedges apparently ran along the cross-dyke, and along the main rampart between the cross-dyke and the entrance and for almost ¼ mile E. of the entrance to a point from which there are traces of a bank running S. (J. Sparrow, Map of Weld Estate (1770), in D.C.R.O.). All the earthworks are now under grass and the eastern two-thirds of Bindon Hill is in a firing range. Only 4 acres of the ridge-top immediately E. of the cross-dyke seem ever to have been ploughed, but on the coastal shelf any traces of Iron Age occupation or fields have been obliterated by ploughing, much of it in the 19th century.
The main defences. At the extreme W. a bank and ditch runs N.N.E for 300 ft. from a crumbled area on the cliff edge above Stairhole. The bank, about 35 ft. wide and 2 ft. high is separated by a very marked berm 18ft. across from the ditch which is 35 ft. wide and 3 ft. deep. The berm perhaps indicates lack of finish. This stretch is much disturbed on the miniature golf course.
N.E. of the village a bank and ditch continues the same line up the steep slope of as much as 25°. The ditch is larger than in the previous length and there is no berm (see profile FF). Complete breaks in the line indicate that the work is unfinished especially N.E. of FF (cf. cross-dyke (b)), and it ends in an isolated mound-like fragment (a).
From this point irregular earthworks run N. and then E. along the hill-top to the cross-dyke. They seem to belong to a univallate defence, apparently unfinished. This is clearly show at the N.W. angle and further E. (profiles GG, HH), where a small bank rises above a scarp and a small ditch. In places the bank is set back leaving a berm while the ditch is interrupted by several original causeways. Behind the bank is a series of dumps forming a very irregular inner bank which is met by the cross-dyke at a point where a hedge (shown on the 1770 map) crosses the earthwork from the N. Irregular quarrying occurs uphill from the line of dumps.
Between the cross-dyke and the inturned entrance the irregular inner bank is smaller and set a little farther northwards. Its inside face is very steep and outside it is a shelf, in some places with a berm instead of an outer bank (profile KK). The ditch varies in form and size. Cross-bank (c) butts against the inner bank, crossing the small quarry pits behind it.
The entrance is a gap 50 ft. wide between banks projecting internally for 60 ft. and converging slightly at their S. ends. Although these do not look unfinished, excavation produced no sign of a gate and only an incomplete pattern of post-holes. A terrace-way which approaches the entrance from the N.E. and cuts through its N.W. angle is unlikely to be original.
The defences to the E. of the entrance at first appear smoother and less disjointed, although the bank is small and varies in height, while a berm is only visible in places. Further E., however, there are considerable variations for long stretches. Near round barrow W. Lulworth (43) sporadic inner quarry pits are replaced by a sharply-defined, flat-bottomed inner 'ditch', 10ft. across, behind a bank only 10 ft. wide set on the lip of the outer ditch. Along the bottom of the 'ditch' runs a slight bank and ditch which could be a marking-out feature. S. of the 'ditch' a scarp rises at most 2 ft. to a very slight inner bank. For about ¼ mile E. of barrow (43) there are fairly continuous quarry pits and, 216 yds. further E., the outer ditch comes to a positive end N.N.E. of barrow (45). Thereafter for the final 750 yds. to Cockpit Head there is only a slight bank with an inner 'ditch' and occasional quarry pits on either side.
Structural and dating evidence mainly came from a cutting across the defences 50 ft. E. of the entrance at (BIN 2). A palisade trench 2 ft. wide dug 2 ft. deep into the chalk 20 ft. N. of the present outer crest of the rampart had been deliberately re-filled and was sealed with turves, presumably before the other defences were constructed. A very small marking-out bank about 11ft. behind this was followed, approximately, by a line of post-holes, each about 5 ins. across, irregularly placed but clearly representing the principals of a revetment (of which a section was experimentally reconstructed by the excavator). This was probably the outer face of a rampart no more than 12 ft. across (from the position of the slight quarry ditch behind it) and perhaps 6 ft. high in a final stage. The general aspect of the bank as a whole is unfinished, the two 'peaks' in the profiles GG, HH. The excavator suggested an uncompleted intention to build a typical Iron Age 'A' boxed rampart a further 12 ft. across in front of this, to be contained by another revetment rising from the palisade trench. Alternatively this palisade was free-standing and preceded a hill-fort type structure. A sharp scarp drops immediately from outside the palisade trench for some 9 ft. to a ditch only 3 ft. in total depth from the top of the present slight grass-covered counterscarp bank.
The dating material, all pottery, comprised numerous sherds found in and beneath the present bank. Most were from 'coarse situlate pots with finger-tip decoration round the rim and/or shoulder'. The firmness of the shoulder was thought to indicate an early phase in the development of this Iron Age 'A' style. There were also occasional fragments of 'bowls with S-profile'. There was no haematite coating. Wheeler suggested a comparison with pottery from Scarborough (now Hawkes's Eastern First A) but regional distinctions and the relatively drab range of finds make close attribution virtually impossible.
Interior earthworks. At the W. end of the hill unfinished defences run S.E. from (a) and were perhaps connected with similar remains running W. from the S. end of (c). They consist of a terrace about 12 ft. wide with small quarry scoops to the N. and a scarp about 1 ½ ft. high to the S.
The cross-ridge dyke (b) is 220 yds. long and relatively massive. Its bank is up to 5 ft. high and the ditch to the E. is 5 ft. deep, both irregular and demonstrably unfinished. A low marking-out bank 10 ft. across lies on the intervening berm, and one break in it, corresponding with the southern of three gaps in the dyke, suggests the position of an entrance. The dyke is marked out to the present cliff edge above Lulworth Cove.
The cross-bank (c) is 180 yds. long and very disturbed. It is 35ft. wide and very low with no apparent ditch, although there are signs of hollowing on both sides. It is broken by a gap N. of barrow(42), and at the S. it ends slightly beyond the point where a terrace runs up to it from the W. leaving a narrow original gap. This terrace is comparable with that farther W. and is perhaps a part of the same scheme.
Of other earthworks detectable in the interior, only a probable hut-platform (d), circular and about 20 ft. across, on the N. shoulder of the ridge 800 yds. E. of the entrance, is likely to be contemporary. The round barrows, West Lulworth (42-45 ), are all earlier than the Iron Age, and enclosure (e), which butts against the rampart 500 ft. E. of the entrance, is probably fairly recent. It is rectangular, 170 ft. by 150 ft. with a very slight bank and an external ditch which has been recently recut; there are fragments of brick inside it. A low bank of indeterminate age runs W. for 150 yds. from the cross-ridge dyke, S. of EE. It is 10 ft. across and 1 ft. high with a ditch 4 ft. wide and 9 ins. deep to the S.’

<5> Department of the Environment, 1977, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England Vol 2, 78 (Monograph). SWX2300.

<6> Keen, L, and Thackray D W R (Compiled Keen L), 1977, Dorset Archaeology in 1977: West Lulworth, 125 (Article in serial). SWX8484.

‘WEST LULWORTH (SY 836803). The cutting of a new cable trench across Bindon Hill was observed by L. J. Keen and D. W. R. Thackray. The narrow trench cut through the outer defences about 30 m east of section BB, published by Wheeler (Antiq. Journ. XXXIII (1953), pl. 1). The rampart was seen to have a maximum height of 1.15 m, constructed directly on chalk bedrock: no old ground surface was observed. The outer ditch was 1.40 m deep with a maximum width of 3.5 m. There was no evidence for the counterscarp bank. No finds were retrieved from this section or from the rest of the cable trench which ran right across the hill.’

<7> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 25-AUG-81 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<8> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1987, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1986, 174 (Serial). SDO86.

‘EXCAVATIONS ON BINDON HILL, WEST LULWORTH, DORSET. In January 1985 archaeological excavations were carried out in advance of an extension to the buildings within the existing Army Radar Compound on the crest of the western end of the hill, SY 831803. The area under threat lay within the scheduled area of the Iron Age enclosure (RCHM 1970, 490-2), immediately to the south of an original entrance way excavated during Sir Mortimer Wheeler’s examination of the site in 1950 (Wheeter 1953).
The limited excavations confirmed what a visual inspection of the site had suggested: all stratigraphy above the bedrock had been removed during the construction of the Army Radar Compound, which had been levelled down into the crest of the hill. The detailed records of the excavation are stored at the offices of the Trust for Wessex Archaeology, Salisbury.
The excavations were funded by the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission, and were carried out on their behalf by the Trust for Wessex Archaeology.’

<9> Brook, K, 2023, Pole Replacement within Bindon Hill Camp Dorset. Archaeological Watching Brief (Unpublished document). SDO20196.

<10> Lock, G, and Ralston, I, 2017, Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland [ONLINE], EN3582 (Digital archive). SDO17130.

<11> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1821 5432-33 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12943.

<12> Royal Air Force, 18-FEB-1970, RAF 58/0254 0007-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12944.

<13> Channel Coastal Observatory, 15-OCT-2010, CCO Aerial Photographic Coverage 2009 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12622.

<14> Channel Coastal Observatory, 25-FEB-2009, Lidar (Aerial Photograph). SDO12879.

<15> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455543 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 20 2024 6:26PM