Monument record MDO2079 - Platform and mounds of possible prehistoric date at Little Waddon, Portesham

A sub-rectangular platform of possible prehistoric date. It is recorded as being surmounted by three stoney mounds, thought to be round barrows.

SY 62158592: on the summit of a well-defined E-W ridge which falls away very steeply to the S but less so to the N, is a
sub-rectangular platform surmounted by 3 stony mounds. The platform measures 27.0m. wide by 30.0m. long and up to 0.7m. in height.

The mounds, which show no trace of a ditch, lie along the long axis of the platform along the line of the ridge, and measure
5.0, 8.0 and 10.0m. in diameter, and range in height from 0.4 to 0.9m. From a distance the feature looks like a barrow group but close to this is uncertain. The platform extends well beyond the mounds on the S side, going nearly to the edge of the escarpment and the possibility that it was created negative-lynchet like by repeated ploughing is not entirely plausible. On the other hand although the field to the N is remarkably clean and smooth, which suggests the possibility of clearance, the feature looks too elaborate for this.

Nothing seems to be known about it locally but it was certainly there in 1947. Noted during field investigation and surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. <1>

Two parallel linear banks, the northern on of which is ditched along its northern side, are also visible as earthworks at this location on aerial photographs {2-3}, measuring approximately 27 metres each in length and 21 metres apart. This site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

National Record of the Historic Environment, 452566 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<1> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 28-MAR-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<2> Royal Air Force, 17-1-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 1065-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11925.

<3> 1-2-1968, MAL 68052-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11913.

Record last edited

Dec 14 2023 10:56AM