Monument record MDO40132 - Triple ditch feature, Gussage St Michael

A triple ditch curvilinear feature identified on aerial photographs. The ditches terminate sharply at western end and continues south at a right angle as a single ditch. The triple ditches at the eastern end curve round towards the northern edge of the Dorset Cursus and terminate close to it.

A multiple and single ditched linear system near Down Farm, visible as cropmarks on air photographs. The linears appear to mark the northeastern boundary of the field system ST 91 SE 12 (see also ST 91 SE 3 and related monuments). The main segment of the system comprises 3 parallel ditches running west-east from circa ST 997146 to circa SU 001147, gradually curving round to the southeast as far as circa SU 002146. Beyond this point, the line is continued by a single ditch which crosses the Dorset Cursus and heads towards the later prehistoric, possibly Iron Age enclosure SU 01 SW 75. At the western end, a single ditch runs south from the triple ditches for a short distance, this right angled corner seeming to share alignments with the nearby enclosure ST 91 SE 215. <1-3>

<1> Bowen, H C, 1990, The Archaeology of Bokerley Dyke (Monograph). SWX800.

<2> Bowen, H C, 1991, The Archaeology of Bokerley Dyke: Inventory, 1 (Monograph). SDO14864.

<3> Barrett, J, Bradley, R and Green, M, 1991, Landscape, Monuments and Society: the prehistory of Cranborne Chase, 233-4 (Monograph). SDO16633.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1307321 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 23 2023 9:54AM