Monument record MDO18327 - Conygar Hill; Prehistoric ditches

Two linear ditches were found in the area north of Conygar Hill and south of Alington Avenue during the construction of the Dorchester By-pass in 1987 and excavated by Wessex Archaeology. Both were V-shaped ditches and appear to be prehistoric in date. Both are probably Bronze Age boundary ditches.

Two prehistoric, probably Bronze Age ditches were found during topsoil stripping for the Dorchester By-pass and subsequently excavated by Wessex Archaeology in 1987 in the area to the north of Conygar Hill and south of Alington Avenue (1) (2). The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the report and archive (1) (3).

The western ditch was aligned SE-NE running almost directly downslope. It was about 1.8m wide and 1.1m deep with a V-profile. It was filled with vacuous chalk rubble and chalky silt loams, tipping in from the east side, suggesting the former existence of a bank on the east side. No dating evidence was recovered, but the high clay content of the soils suggests a prehistoric date. One sherd of Black-Burnished Ware pottery and a fragment of Roman tile were found in the upper levels of this ditch.

The eastern ditch lay to the northeast and was aligned N-S on the northern fringes of the wide dry valley to the north of Conygar Hill. It had a slightly irregular course and had a V-profile about 1.6m wide and 0.6m deep. It was filled with dark brown clayey silt and produced a single scrap of prehistoric pottery. This ditch appears to have been sealed beneath colluvium, which is thought to have begun in the Bronze Age in this area, and therefore a prehistoric date for this ditch is proposed.

Both ditches are probably land boundary ditches and may date to the Bronze Age.

<1> Smith, R J C et al, 1997, Excavations along the Route of the Dorchester By-pass, Dorset, 1986-8, 52-53 (Monograph). SDO9379.

<2> Woodward, P J and Smith, R J C, 1987, Survey and excavation along the route of the Southern Dorchester By-pass, 1986-1987 – an interim note, 79-89 (Article in serial). SDO9381.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 1987, Dorchester By-pass (Excavation archive). SDO9385.

Record last edited

Oct 19 2006 11:00AM