Monument record MDO7461 - Iron Age to Romano-British settlement and kiln site at Cleavel Point, Ower, Corfe Castle

Late Iron Age and Roman settlement with pottery production, salt-production and evidence for three enclosures. Pits, post structures and ditches were also found. There is evidence for 6th to 7th century occupation and for Medieval and post Medieval field boundaries. Some of these features are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs.

A Romano-British pottery kiln of the horizontal draught type, and occupation material including salters waste, have been found on the NE part of the Ower peninsula. Oxidised sherds of coarse pottery ranging from Durotrigian ware to types of post-AD 200 have been found in the area of the kiln, SY 00048618. Salters waste abounds at the kiln site and also along a scarp bordering the mud-flats from SZ 00198609 to 0008619 and from SY 99928618 to 99878618. Excavation revealed 3rd or 4th cent pottery at SZ 00018616, and 1st and 2nd century occupation debris, including a shell midden, at SZ 00038606 and SY 99898599. Romano-British sherds have also been found at SY 99998595 and, with briquetage, at SY 99888603. (1-3) SZ 001860. A black-burnished pottery production - site was defined by excavation and geophysical survey at Cleavel Point, Ower in 1978-9. The survey located a series of rectangular areas ranging from 800 to 1500 metres square, in size, partially enclosed by ditches and separated by `trackways. This pattern extended over at least 10 hectares, and areas of industrial activity were identified particularly on the northern shore of the peninsula. The excavation in the south-west corner of the complex located a rectilinear ditched and banked enclosure of the later Iron Age which had been replaced by a curved ditched enclosure during the 1st century AD. Pits and post-structures were associated with both enclosures. They were replaced in the early 2nd century by a group of stone post-pad and sill-wall buildings arranged around a rectangular yard and connected by pebble paths. These underwent continual modification and replacement until they fell into disuse in the 4th century. To the west were post-buildings, yards and the base of a kiln or oven and a long cranked flue on the lip of a 3rd-4th century boundary ditch. Wasters, baked clay, kiln-bars and briquetage show that the settlement was involved in salt-production and in the manufacture of black-burnished pottery, probably from an early date to judge from the association of 1st century imports and native pottery in the earliest ditches. (4-5) Listed by Swan. (6) Campers have recently dug slit trenches in the kiln site at SZ00048618 exposing kiln waste and rims, and disturbances reveal briquetage up to 30m west. (7) Excavations, geophysical survey and field working carried out in 1978 identified an extensive Late Iron Age settlement which had trade links with northern Spain and south west France well established by AD 43. The Roman settlement dates from the second century AD and comprised of a number of buildings and industrial structures, its layout disregarding that of the former settlement. Industrial activities included BB1 pottery production and salt working. Post Roman, 6th-7th century occupation, beads and a possible building were also identified. (8) Further excavations were carried out in 1988, the results of which confirmed the phasing identified in 1978 (9). Iron Age and Roman metalworking and shale working was recorded. Additional evidence for cross-channel trading links from the late first century were also identified. A Medieval or post-Medieval field boundary ditch was also recorded. (10) WATER) The earthworks are to surveyed by Poole Harbour Heritage Projects. (11) A sub-square enclosure and and a trackway were recorded as cropmarks on aerial photographs of 2008 to the west of Cleavel Point (12). The enclosure is visible on three sides as a narrow ditch with an internal area measuring 38 m square. The trackway is formed of a ditch flanked by banks extending from west to east for a distance of 160 m. Additional sub-square enclosures are also visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs of fields just to the west (NGR SY99866 86072 and SY99934 85917). Other trackways, pits and cultivation marks are also visible in this area (13-14). These features probably form part of the Late Iron Age and Roman settlement described above (1-11). This site was digitally plotted during the South West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (Dorset).

Record last edited

Dec 7 2022 4:33PM