Monument record MDO24904 - Prehistoric field system and settlement, Clandon, Winterborne Monkton

The remains of an extensive settlement, pits and field system considered likely to be of Iron Age/Romano-British date are visible as cropmark ditches on aerial photographs. It is possible that this site is associated with a smaller area 100m to the west, of enclosed fields (MDO24902). The site was digitally plotted for the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

A series of enclosures strung along two parallel lines and covering about 24 acres of the almost flat top of a broad ridge, centred SY 673893, are visible as crop marks on air photographs. It is probable that further remains to the east and west lie hidden under pasture or crops, but the north and south limits appear to be true. Further crop marks, covering an area of about 4 acres, lie 500 yds to the west on the same alignment. Surface finds of pottery were very scanty, but in a field north east of Bush Road Cottages a general scatter of building debris, pottery, tesserae, roof tile, limestones, Samian and coarse pottery was found. A trial excavation made in 1970 in a one acre enclosure at SY 67338955 ('a' on plan) yielded 1st century pottery (whether before or after the Roman conquest is not certain), and the integration of the enclosure with the rest of the settlement suggest 1st century occupation of the site as a whole, apart from those area where surface finds indicate later Roman occupation. The total area involved might equal the interior acreage of Maiden Castle. Whether it is a "plantation" following the eviction of the native population from the Hill fort requires further investigation. All finds from the excavation are deposited in the Dorset County Museum. <1> Nothing visible; the area has been intensively ploughed. <2> The remains of an extensive settlement, pits and field system considered likely to be of Iron Age/Romano-British date is visible as cropmark ditches on aerial photographs <3-8>. It is possible that this site is associated with a smaller area 100m to the west, of enclosed fields (MDO24902). The site was digitally plotted for the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project. Extensive 1st century AD settlement consisting of enclosures arranged in two lines. Late Iron Age or early Roman. Roman pottery, tesserae and roof tiles have been found. Scheduled.(RCHM). Field System. <10> A grass covered Iron Age/Romano-British type field system is visible around the barrow group. Elsewhere the ground has been extensively cultivated in recent times, and traces have been virtually ploughed out. That the system was formerly of considerable size is shown by two air photographs of Major Allen's, reproduced in R E M Wheeler's report on Maiden Castle, where the system is classified as Iron Age. <11>

Record last edited

Mar 19 2024 12:04PM