Monument record MDO5999 - Bank and ditch, Shapwick

Possibly originally part of an enclosure. Excavation prior to levelling of the earthwork in 1965 revcealed a Bronze Age palisade ditch overlain by an Iron Age ('Iron Age B') bank. This bank was enlaged, and its associated ditch deepened in the period prior to the Roman occupation. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water.

Full report of the 1965 excavation. Re-examination of the 1965 excavation report concludes that a late Neolithic or early Bronze Age linear bank and ditch was suceeded by a two phase palisaded - enclosure which probably went out of use in the late Bronze Age. Only 2 sherds of Iron Age pottery and considerable amounts of Roman pottery were recorded, but these were from post-occupation contexts. Beaker pottery was found in small pits within the enclosed area. <3> The bank and ditch is almost certainly part of a linear arrangement, as is indicated by the continuation of the main ditch from both ends and the suggestion that it joined linear [ST 90 SW 18], south west of it, with a bank on the same side of the ditch. Its history and form at this point have particular importance: it is locally protuberant in plan; it appears to be built on a Middle Bronze Age line; there was a probable entrance where the ditch was interrupted by a narrow causeway; it is ultimately developed in part (perhaps unfinished ?) to hill-fort proportions with a ditch 13 feet (4 m) deep; a ballista bolt found on the tail of the bank could be connected with events leading to the establishment of the probable Roman fort [ST 90 SW 33]. The excavated sections and plan, prior to excavation, strongly suggest that the palisade trench could have been clearly visible, at least as a shallow ditch line between low banks, when the apparently Iron Age bank was built along and over it. [Detailed plan and sections. Discussion of the bank in relation to Bokerley Dyke]. <4-5>

Record last edited

Feb 3 2023 5:06PM