Monument record MDO42345 - Cemetery near Spettisbury Rings also called Crawford Castle, Spetisbury

The north-eastern part of the ramparts was disturbed by construction of a railway cutting in 1857. This exposed the filling of the ditch, within which was what was interpreted as a mass grave. At least 80 skeletons were removed on this occasion, and the following year at least 40 more were removed from somewhere in the vicinity, though their exact location was not recorded. Objects recovered from the grave are said to have included iron spear-heads and sword, a bronze cauldron and bucket handles, as well as personal ornaments such as rings and brooches.

Pers.comm. m/s N Field - possible AS ironwork.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1959, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1958, 108 (Serial). SDO58.

<2> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 246 (Monograph). SDO136.

‘(30) SPETISBURY RINGS, also called CRAWFORD CASTLE (915020), is a univallate hill-fort … On the E. side of the fort the defences were partly destroyed in the construction of a railway cutting in 1857, when numerous skeletons were found in the ditch filling. No systematic excavation of the fort has been carried out, but in 1958 a small cutting was made to determine the character of the ditch (Dorset Procs. LXXX (1958), 108).
… The railway cutting of 1857 exposed, within the filling of the ditch, a mass grave from which at least 80 skeletons were recovered. At least 40 more skeletons were found in the following year but their precise location was unrecorded. Objects from the grave included iron spear-heads, an iron sword, a twisted iron torque, two bronze chapes, currency bars, a bronze cauldron, bucket handles, spiral finger rings, and two brooches (La Tène II and III). A fragment of Roman shield binding, and the fact that at least two of the bodies came to a violent end, suggests that the occupants of the grave were victims of the advancing Roman army; hence the grave may be comparable with the 'war-cemetery' at Maiden Castle (Dorset II, 497). The uncompleted strengthening of the defences is presumably associated with the Roman advance. (Arch. J. XCVI (1939), 114–131; XCVII (1940), 112–4; P.P.S. XXIV (1958), 106, 112).’

Record last edited

Oct 16 2024 11:03AM