Monument record MDO2864 - Bronze Age cemetery, Perry's Gravel Pit, West Knighton

A Late Bronze Age urnfield of some magnitude was destroyed in the spring of 1938 at Perry's gravel pit at Knighton Heath Wood. A note by Colonel Drew records that five or six Late Bronze Age pits were found in a pocket of dark earth just below the surface, but the foreman of the pit. Mr. Lucas, who indicated the find-spot at about SY 74558916, recollects that many more urns were broken up, perhaps between
twenty and thirty in all. They were about 3 or 4 feet below the surface, mouths upwards and fairly close together, and Mr. Lucas's recollections of shape and decoration are consistent with a Late Bronze Age assemblage. About 30 yards away was a mass of ashes on top of the gravel. <1>

A single fragment of pottery from the urns was donated to Dorset County Museum. The urns were found during removal of the top soil by mechanical digger. There were no surface indications. Only one fragment of the urns is preserved in the museum, and Mr. Lucas, who confirmed the find-spot (as above), had no knowledge of the whereabouts of the rest of the pottery. <2>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1956, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1954, 86-87 (Serial). SDO54.

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 09-DEC-59 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<2.1> Dorset County Museum, Dorset County Museum Accessions Book, 1938, 1953 (Unpublished document). SWX1315.

<2.2> Lucas, B, Oral: Mr B Lucas (foreman), Perry's Gravel Pit, West Knignton (Verbal communication). SDO20341.

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454028 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 7 2023 3:08PM