Monument record MDO38031 - Sub-circular enclosure west of Oakley Farm, Wimborne St Giles

An irregular, probably sub-circular to sub-oval enclosure with an outer diameter of at least 130 metres partly visible as well-defined cropmarks on aerial photographs dated 2002, and faintly visible on aerial photographs dated 2005 and 2009. Has an elaborate multi-phase entrance. The enclosure is undated, but a Late Roman zoomorphic buckle has been found within its circuit. Many pits are visible, mostly within the enclosed area.

SU 016187. Ovoid enclosure, area ?2.5 ha., visible on air photographs. Complex enclosure, concentric, with elaborate multi-phase entrance at SE; many pits, one outside S but otherwise most within inner enclosure, around large area without pits containing circular smear 40m across; one irregular smear in area almost free of pits between inner and outer ditches on E. The air photograph information is only detailed in S half. Final phase edged by hollow-way curving around E side. <1>

The outer enclosure ditch is clear to the east and south, but narrows and becomes less well defined to the west, and there may be an entrance on that side; The inner enclosure appears to have an entrance to the south. No other internal features can be discerned with any confidence.

The monument is approximately centrally bisected on a broadly east-west axis by a modern field boundary: crops in the north field are much less responsive than to the south, but aerial photograhs dated 2005 and 2009 give a general indication of the northern and western extents of the monument.

<1> Bowen, H C, 1991, The Archaeology of Bokerley Dyke: Inventory, 30, Wimborne St Giles 142 (Monograph). SDO14864.

<1.1> National Monuments Record, NMR OAPs SU 0118/10-18 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18936.

<2> Dorset County Council, 2002, VAP (Aerial Photograph). SDO13141.

<3> GetMapping, 2005, Digital vertical aerial photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDO12563.

<4> Dorset County Council, 2009, Digital vertical aerial photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDO12079.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 868814 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 29 2022 4:43PM