Monument record MWX642 - Iron Age/Romano-British shale working, Metherhills, Kimmeridge

Surface finds of shale working waste and pottery. Interpreted as a shale working site of late prehistoric and Roman date.

In a large pasture between the village of Kimmeridge and the Bay. Lieut. E. Garard Smith found an oval shaped kistvaen containing human remains. A rough ring of Kimmeridge shale was placed on each side of the skull. In the same field he found quite a magazine of coal money, of which there were upward of 500 pieces. On another occasion he found a bronze fibula, with several pieces of pottery. <1> Coal Money abundant at Metherhills. <2> SY 91357917. Evidence of shale working was found in 1946 in an oval patch which began near the southernmost point of the 200ft. contour, and ran for 40 yards. south-westwards down the hillside. Flint lathe tools were in abundance and the sherds found included New Forest ware. In three spots there were slabs of shale up to 3 inches in thickness. <3> Kimmeridge coal money ..... found with bones and pottery in tumuli at Worbarrow and Smedmore, on the coast of Dorset, 1846" (Smedmore - SY 924788). <4>

Record last edited

Oct 11 2023 7:03PM