Monument record MDO2898 - Ring ditch, West Stafford

A ring ditch seen as a crop mark on aerial photograph was investigated in 1991 in advance of the construction of the West Stafford by pass. Closer examination of aerial photographs and excavation after topsoil stripping revealed an incomplete ring ditch approximately 20 metres in diameter with a length of curved ditch around 12 metres long, abutting the ring ditch on its south-eastern side. Excavation showed that this second ditch was the same date and designed to touch the larger ditch. No direct dating evidence was found but the archaeologists on site felt that the most probable interpretation was that it was a barrow/ring-work, and possibly of Neolithic date.

Three ring ditches showing as parch-marks in the field to the south of West Stafford. They are located at SY 72478937, SY 72478935 and SY 72498928. <1>

Not visited. In regularly ploughed field. <2>

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1982, Dorset Barrows Supplement, 53 (Monograph). SWX1703.

<2> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 574 (Index). SDO12304.

<3> Richards, J, 1991, The Excavation of a Crop-mark Ring Ditch at West Stafford, Near Dorchester, Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO214.

‘Topsoil stripping revealed a c. 28.5m length of curved ditch, representing 45% of a circle of 20m projected external diameter. Six cuttings were hand-excavated through the ditch, a total fully-excavated length of 12m. The cuttings demonstrated considerable variation in both the size and profile of the ditch ain in its sequence of filling. … On its northern side it is abruptly cut away by a deep feature [29] clearly visible on the aerial photograph and described below as a possible quarry. On it southern and western sides the ditch circuit may have been removed by ploughing. … a length of curved ditch … abutted the ring ditch on its south-eastern side … the upper fills of both rind ditch and southern ditch were show not be identical and no stratigraphic sequence could be discerned … the basal profile of the cutting suggests that the two ditched features were essentially contemporaneous and were designed to touch. … the ring ditch, if assumed to be a completely circular earthwork in its original form, may be considered to fall within the broad category of barrow/ring-work and, if of Neolithic date to have performed some form of ceremonial or funerary function. Excavation of the ditch provided no direct dating evidence or indication of the original morphology of the earthwork. It cannot be suggested whether the ditch was associated with either an internal or external bank, the existence of which might have provided clues to the form and possibly the function of the site.’

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1992, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1991, 168 (Serial). SDO91.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 868175 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 22 2023 3:38PM