Monument record MWX1045 - Circular earthworks, Sopley Common, Christchurch

Circular earthworks originally described as bee gardens now thought to be either military, forestry or horticultural earthworks. A large loosely grouped cluster of circular earthworks are visible on the south side of Avon Causeway on 1940's aerial photographs and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Stour NMP. Details were included in MDOs 8825, 8826, 8827, 39680.

Fifteen small circular earthworks, 10,13,14,15), were revealed in 1976 by burning of the heather on Sopley Common. It seems unlikely that they could be bee-gardens, as suggested by Heywood Sumner. They could be described as resembling either saucer or ring barrows. (For details, see over). The area was used for military training during the 1914-18 war, from which period a few small trenches remain, and contained several buildings, now demolished, erected during the 1939-45 war as part of the aerodrome facilities. <1>

Main details of the Earthworks:

Notes: (a) The NGRs of the centres are given to the nearest metre, although they were not surveyed to that accuracy. The designated points should at least fall within the respective earthworks, some of which might be difficult to find from 8 figure references when the heather has regrown.

(b) Heights given are from the top of the bank to the bottom of the ditch.

Nos. 1-9 are north of the road and 10-15 south of the road.
Nos. 1-4 are close to the most easterly part of the network of paths leading from the Avon Causeway entrance.
No. 5 is 7m NE of a trench running back from the scarp parallel to the road.
No. 6 is immediately south of the W end of a trench 1.3 x 0.8m.
No. 8 is 8m SE of a stony mound with two iron stakes.
No. 9 is between two paths running N from the entrance.
Nos. 10-12 are at the foot of a large natural hillock, on either side of a path leading to the summit.
No. 13 has a central mound 15cm high, but is covered with modern rubbish.
No. 14 is 7m south of the scarp parallel to the road.
No. 15 is a circular ditch in level ground, becoming very shallow to the SW.

In view of Aitken's note <1> that the area was used for military training during the 1914-18 war there is a likelihood that the earthworks originate from this period, for instance as drainage works around bell-tents. <2>

SZ 1318497398. One of the earthwork rings, structure 3, was excavated in 1978. It was found to be slightly elliptical, having outside diameters of 4.5m. north-south and 4.0m. east-west. The ditch had a maximum depth of 12cm. and a maximum width of 1.2m., and the bank had a maximum height of 10cm. There was no evidence for an internal mound and no finds were made. The ditch had no recuts and the fill represented a single natural recent origin, possibly as a result of some forestry or horticultural practice. <3>

A large loosely grouped cluster of circular earthworks are visible on the south side of Avon Causeway on 1940s aerial photographs and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Stour NMP. Details were included in MDOs 8825, 8826, 8827, 39680.

Aitken, P, 1976, A Survey of the Archaeological Sites On Sopley Common, Dorset, 5 (Unpublished document). SWX3841.

<2> Allanson, Christopher David, Field Investigators Comments CDA, R2 CDA 12-NOV-81 (Verbal communication). SDO17894.

<3> Woodward, P J, 1978, Dorset Archaeology in 1978: Hurn, 115 (Article in serial). SWX8473.

<4> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BUT01 (Index). SDO14738.

Butcher, S A: Nornour, Isles of Scilly. A large collection of original and copied archive relating, on the whole, to excavations at the site of Nornour between 1969 and 1973. There are, however, also references to a number of other sites on the Scilly isles as well as sites in Cornwall, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire. See also the Dudley archive (615559) for information on Nornour.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 458509 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 18 2024 4:58PM