Monument record MDO7706 - Battery Bank, a linear earthwork, East Stoke

Linear earthwork of probable later prehistoric date, comprising a bank with accompanying ditch. Its known extent runs from SY 84438941, near Long Thorns Farm, to SY 88948747, near Jubilee Plantation. Gravel quarrying has destroyed parts of the earthwork, which now comprises several individual sections of varying length. There is no clear connection between Battery Bank and the earthwork complex on Worgret Heath, the two currently being separated by some 750 metres.

Battery Bank consists of a bank with a ditch on the outer side, the course of which is irregular. The bank is composed of earth and small flints and the ditch in preserved sections appears to be wide but shallow. Gravel workings have erased much of the earthwork and threaten further sections. While the earthwork appears to be of a defensive nature, no surface finds were made during field investigations. <2> The curious, and as yet undated, Battery Banks immediately west of Wareham which run for a distance of four miles along the ridge-top between the Frome and Piddle rivers may well belong to the final stand of the Romano-British against the Saxon invasion as seen at Bokerley Dyke (Lin 74) and Combs Ditch (ST 80 SE 48). <3> SY 844894 - SY 891874. Battery Banks. a series of discontinuous stretches of dyke runs south-east towards Wareham along a heathland ridge. At the south east end the earthwork is on the ridge crest but at the north west it is on the south slope. The remains consist of a bank 20ft to 33ft wide and 1ft to 2ft high with a ditch on the north, 18ft to 20ft wide and 1ft to 1 1/2ft deep. The surviving lengths, possibly once continuous over 3 1/2 miles, have been much damaged, especially by gravel quarrying: none of the gaps are certainly original. There is no certain connection between this boundary dyke and the complex on Worgret Heath (see SY 89 NW 22) commencing 750 yds from its south-east end. The individual sections comprise: 'A' - SY 84438941 to SY 84658929. Three hundred yards of earthwork, very slight and mostly only traceable on air photographs. <4> Battery Bank - between SY 86558830 and SY 86758828 the feature has been completely destroyed by quarrying. A 145m long section of this monument is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs taken in 1947 <7-8> to the north of Longthorns Farm camping and caravan site. It was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

Record last edited

Feb 5 2024 3:52PM