EWX797 - Maumbury Rings, Dorchester; excavation 1908 to 1913

Five seasons of excavation were undertaken by H St George Gray between 1908 and 1913, under the joint auspices of the British Archaeological Association and the Dorset Field Club. Interim reports were produced after each season of fieldwork (1-5), but full publication was not achieved until 1976 (6). A total of 35 cuttings were made in the interior and outside the entrance of Maumbury Rings and these were particularly concentrated around the entrance. No complete cutting was made through the bank. The excavations revealed the remains of a Neolithic henge monument comprising a circular structure with an external bank and internal ditch with a series of deep shafts cut through the base of the ditch. The shafts appear to have been deliberately filled in and incorporate a number of different deposits of domestic refuse and of different material. During the Roman period the henge was remodelled and the level of the interior was considerably reduced and the banks heightened to form the amphitheatre. The monument was adapted during the English Civil War into a fort with the construction of a southern ramp and projection to the south,two internal terraces to the east and west,some modifications to the top of the rampart and the digging of a small ditch around the outside. There was some evidence for a possible 'covered' way leading northwards out of the fort towards Dorchester.