Monument record MWX378 - Earthwork on The Verne, Portland

Antiquarians such as Aubrey, Hutchins and Warne have described substantial earthworks on The Verne, and interpreted them as prehistoric or as an entrenchment created in the seventeenth century.

The camp on the VERNE is described by AUBREY as double worked and apart from Hutchins and Warne it noted in the GUIDE of 1817, where it is described as Roman.(1)

HILL, oval in form, and rather more than 50 paces across with its west end over the village of CHESIL where it was protected by a double rampart and corresponding ditches. On the north side there was a single bank and outer ditch. On the south was a double escarpment, or two terraces which extended beyond the camp following the curvature of the valley some few hundred yards (2).

Hutchins says on the high land is a plain, on which is a small entrenchment or entrenched camp said to be Danish; and here begins a trench or breast work thrown up by the inhabitants in the time of CHARLES I which extends to every accessible part of the island. The entrenchment is ancient British and is not seen anywhere except on the VERNE HILL (3). before it was converted into a modern fortress (4). [The print looks like an IA fort on the very summit of the hill but the dimensions quoted in (2) makes it doubtful IA hill fort] Within the old entrenchment was an inhumation in a cist with no grave goods. Similar ones, some with grave goods have been found in the neighbourhood. [Roman and apparently BA burials have thus been found - see Dorset 58 SE 2 & 11 ]

2. [SY 69017352] Sited from the tithe map of 1839 the full reduced copy at 1/10,560 which is here reproduced. The entire area has been mutilated by the construction of the VERNE and no definable trace of antiquity remains. A reconstruction of the detail of 1839 with present contours suggests that the slopes shown above represents the natural scarp of the plateau in the SW corner of which the earthwork was sited. Two parallel lines extending to the north might represent strip lynchets. The oval earthwork seems likely to have been an enclosure but certainly cannot be classified as a hillfort because of its size and siting on a plateau - nor are any defences mentioned in the outlying areas. (5)

The idea of a breastwork of Charles I date extending to all parts of the island is not feasible. The area is too great and in any case the island is surrounded by cliffs. Nor is it at all likely from a topographical point of view that there was any artificial contour following defence in the vicinity of the oval earthwork. (6)

3. When my grandmother was a little girl and before the VERNE CITADEL was constructed all the children used to foregather once a year somewhere in that area to carry out some sort of ceremony the details of which she forgets. It seems likely to have been the survival of a pagan custom. (7)

Graphical material omitted 1/10,560 Reduced from Tithe Map of Portland Measured and Mapped by I TAPPERELL 1839 Copied by William Pearce A.M.I.C.E. 1926 (In Portland UDC Offices).(8)

<1> Oliver, V L, 1923, Pre-Roman and Roman Occupation of the Weymouth District. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, p31-38 (Article in serial). SWX1763.

<2> Warne, C, 1872, Ancient Dorset (2nd Edition), 260 (Monograph). SWX1971.

<3> Shipp, W, and Hodson, J W (eds), 1863, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. 3rd edition. Volume 2, 817-818 (Monograph). SWX1269.

<4> Pentin Rev H, 1916, Old Portland, p246 Print (Article in serial). SWX1973.

<5> Anon, 1866, Arch of ? Vol 23, p75-8 (Article in serial). SWX1974.

<6> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 07-JUN-55 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<7> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F2 JR 08-JUN-55 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<8> Lineham, J, 1955, Oral: Mr J Lineham 8.6.55 schoolmaster Fortuneswell (Verbal communication). SWX8274.

<9> Historic England, Historic England Archive, CC71/00007 (Index). SDO14738.

"CAMP FORMERLY EXISTING ON THE VERNE". PROBABLY A PREHISTORIC EARTHWORK. EXISTED UNTIL 1849

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 451672 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 23 2023 7:50AM