Monument record MWX570 - Worgret Dykes, Worgret Heath/Wareham Common, Arne

Linear earthworks comprising banks and ditches present on Worgret Heath and Wareham Common. These consist of two alignments which meet at a central point. Each has a pair of banks 7 to 12 metres wide and 0.2 to 0.4 metres high which flank a pair of ditches 4 to 5 metres wide. These are now visible as a single depression between the banks. The southern earthwork has been disturbed by sand and gravel extraction and truncated by road. Scheduled.

Two large ditches found on the NE-SW alignment of the scheduled dyke were revealed in a trench excavated in advance of pipeline construction. The ditches ran parallel to each other with a 2.5m gap between them. The northern/western most ditch was 4.5m wide, 1.98m deep with a v-shaped profile. Substantial amounts of modern building material, iron wire and bronze objects were found at its top. The second ditch formed the SE side of the monument and was 5.5m wide and 1.52m deep with moderate to steeply sloping sides. There was no dating evidence from the ditches and no associated banks. A further, narrow linear cut was also excavated, any connection with the scheduled dyke could not be established. <2>

The only surviving parts of these earthworks are as follows:

SY 89638704- SY 89758707. A ditch with a bank on either wide, 120 metres long and 16.0 metres wide overall. Obscured by dense undergrowth; it is straight and not curving as formerly depicted on OS 25".

SY 89708717 - SY 89838717. A scarp 120 metres long and up to 1.0 metres high, now incorporated in a landscaped garden.

SY 89798715 - SY 89848715 and SY 89848716 - SY 89878716. Two single banks now in dense woodland, which were formerly part of the south and north banks of the earthwork respectively.

SY 90128725 - SY 90188733. Two ditches with a central bank, 100 metres in length.

All these extant portions are as described on OS 495. 1:2500 plans by Author. 2. have been revised at 1:2500 on M.S.D.s.

The R.C.H.M. cast doubt upon the authenticity of the earthworks shown on the OS. 25" 1936, at SY 87808717. It is unlikely that they were gravel workings (see 1952 plan) although they had been virtually destroyed by gravel digging before the time of their investigation. <5>

SY 900872. Earthworks on Worgret Heath and Wareham Common. Scheduled. (6)

The double ditch with bank between at SY89148728, between `F' and `J' on the 1952 plan, is now partly levelled. See sketch survey at 1:1250. <7>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1938 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centered SY 899871) Earthworks (NR)

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 19-AUG-52 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 516-517 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(48) Linear Dykes, four, on Worgret Heath and Wareham Common, partly in the parish of Wareham Lady St. Mary (SY 88 NE, 98 NW; 89638705 to 91218745). This complex lies on gravels and sands, now mostly heath and poorly drained, between the rivers Piddle and Frome (Fig. above). The W. end is 1½ miles due W. of Wareham and about 750 yds. S.E. of the first of a series of discontinuous lengths of dyke, all facing N., known collectively as Battery Bank (see East Stoke (50)). There seems to be no necessary connection between these two sets of earthworks.

The dykes are of different forms but their siting is nowhere tactical and they appear to be boundaries forming barriers to movement, possibly of cattle, rather than defences. Alignment (c) differs from (a) and (b) in situation, however, while only (b) has double ditches. The fragmentary bank-and-ditch (d) cuts through (b) and may conceivably be connected, from its alignment, with Battery Bank. The line of earthworks shown on O.S. maps N. of the W. end of (a) appears to be the result of gravel digging.

The date of the dykes is uncertain. The nearest possible analogy for the variably multiple form is on the chalkland of Cranborne Chase, where the dykes are possibly Romano-British (D. W. Harding, Dorset Procs. LXXXI (1959), 110–13). If (d) can be connected with Battery Bank, then (b) would have gone out of use when Battery Bank was built.

(a) consists of two banks, some 1½ ft. high, on either side of a narrow-bottomed ditch 4 ft. deep; the overall width is 45 ft. It runs N.E. for about 1000 yds. from a re-entrant gully and is now broken by two wide gaps. There are faint traces at the N.E. end of a link with the present Arne-Wareham parish boundary which continues the alignment for 4/5 mile. Near the S.W. end, on a plateau 100 ft. above O.D., discontinuous banks about 1 ft. high, double on the E., spring from the S. side and might have formed a trapezoidal enclosure (x), measuring some 120 ft. (E.) by 225 ft. (N.).

(b) is of varied form: for the first 200 yds. triple banks contain two ditches, the whole being 62 ft. wide, but after being cut by (d), there are first two ditches and two banks, then one bank between two ditches, then one ditch between two banks and finally three banks and two ditches, 50 ft. overall (for junction between these last two forms, see detail on plan). It runs N.E. and then N. for about 400 yds. from the modern road near a gap in (a) to a scarp 10 ft. high falling to the flood plain of the river Piddle.

(c) consists of double banks with a ditch between them, the whole varying in width from 45 ft. to 55 ft. In places the ditch is up to 5¾ ft. deep below the banks but recent excavation of a field drain along part of it may point to similar scourings in the past. A recent cut near the rifle butts suggested the possibility of a flat bottom 7 ft. below the top of the banks (Dorset Procs. LXXVIII (1956), 78). The dyke follows the low-lying terrace approximately parallel to the river Piddle for 860 yds. from a point 200 yds. E. of the N. end of (b) and may have continued further W. on the line of the ArneWareham parish boundary. The rifle butts and much of the length E. of them have recently been destroyed (Dorset Procs. LXXXI (1959), 108); a large field bank continued the line further E. towards the N.W. angle of Wareham defences.

(d) is a bank 3 ft. high with a ditch and counterscarp bank on the N., about 30 ft. wide overall, and cuts (b) at right angles. It projects only a few feet to the N.W. but traces exist to the S.E. for about 100 yds.'

<4> 1978, List of ancient monuments in England: Southern England, 80 (Monograph). SWX1558.

<5> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F2 JGB 19-JUN-81 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<6> DCMS, 1999, Scheduled Monument Notification 1999, 16-APR-1999 (Scheduling record). SDO17351.

<7> Leech, R H, Field investigator's comments RHL, F3 RHL 06-Aug-1990 (Unpublished document). SDO20488.

<8> Coe, D, 1990, Wareham Oilfield: Excavations and Observations on the Route of the Pipeline between Well-sites C and D on the Wareham Oilfield (Unpublished document). SWX8534.

<9> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1990, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1989, 124 (Serial). SDO89.

<10> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1991, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1990, 127-128 (Serial). SDO90.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455198 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 8 2024 4:06PM