Monument record MDO42932 - Bronze Age settlement, Shearplace Hill, Sydling St Nicholas

A banked and ditched multiple enclosure is visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs on Shearplace Hill, Sydling St Nicholas. The feature is recorded as a Martin Down Enclosure of Middle to Late Bronze Age date (Hob UID453117) and is a Scheduled Monument (List Entry 1002766). It was digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Frome AIM project.

A banked and ditched multiple enclosure is visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs and on current Lidar imagery on Shearplace Hill, Sydling St Nicholas (1-5). The feature is recorded as a Martin Down Enclosure of Middle to Late Bronze Age date (Hob UID453117) and is a Scheduled Monument (List Entry 1002766). The feature appears to comprise a central banked and ditched enclosure approximately 30m long by 42m wide, with a banked causeway leading into an entrance on its north side. A double banked track or hollow way runs along the south side of the enclosure and possibly cuts through, suggesting it may be a later feature. A second such track or hollow way runs along the north side of the enclosure. A further sub-rectilinear enclosure is visible as a cropmark to the south, bounded or truncated on the north and west sides by later field boundaries. The settlement is situated within a wider area of linear banks and ditches that form part of an extensive field system of probable Iron Age/Romano-British date (MDO42933). The features were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Frome AIM project.

Record last edited

Jul 28 2023 3:28PM