Monument record MDO4907 - Enclosure near Bussey Stool Woods, Tarrant Gunville

A sub-rectangular enclosure formed by a bank and ditch with a south-facing entrance, and thought to be Iron Age in date. The enclosure survived as an earthwork until 1911, when it was levelled, and today it can be seen only as soil-mark or crop-marks. Burnt flints have been found on the site.

An enclosure destroyed by ploughing in January 1912. There were no surface finds or any other traces of occupation. Its small bank and ditch and wide entrance suggest a pastoral enclosure.

The enclosure lies at the head of a shallow coomb with the land failing to the south and rising in all other directions from its centre. It is much spread and ploughed down. To the north the average height of the bank is 0.1m, and elsewhere 0.3m. The outer ditch has an average width of 0.3m and an average depth of 0.3m. There were no surface finds. Visible on air photographs and also as a chalky white band on the ground.

No finds have ever been made here, except a 'few burnt flints'. <4>

The enclosure is probably Iron Age. It is subrectangular in plan with an internal area of 1 1/4 acres. The entrance, on the S, faces down the combe. Today, the enclosure appears only as a soil mark or crop mark, but before levelling it had a bank and ditch up to 45ft wide, with the bank standing some 4ft high above the interior. <5>

Additional references, air photographic transcription plan and consideration of comparable examples. <6-7>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1902 (Map). SWX1540.

ST 93061523 Camp (NR)

<2> Sumner, H, The Ancient Earthworks of Cranborne Chase, 31 (Monograph). SDO16661.

<3> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 12-APR-54 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<3.1> Royal Air Force, F22/58/1332 078-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18411.

<3.2> Boyden, J R, 12-JUL-1972, M60 4356 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18409.

<3.3> Ordnance Survey, OS/75/371 097 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18412.

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1961, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1960, 84-85 (Serial). SDO60.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 96 (Monograph). SDO99.

'(33) ENCLOSURE (93051523), probably of the Iron Age, lies on a gentle S. slope at the head of a shallow combe, some 250 yds. S. of (32). It is sub-rectangular in plan, with an internal area of 1¼ acres; the entrance, on the S., faces down the combe. The enclosure was levelled c.1911 and today appears only as a soil-mark or crop-mark, but before levlling it had a bank and ditch up to 45 ft. wide, with the bank standing some 4ft. high above the interior. Burnt flints have been found on the site, but nothing else. (Summer, op.cit.,31; Dorset Procs., 82 (1960),84.)'

<6> Bowen, H C, 1990, The Archaeology of Bokerley Dyke, 91 (Monograph). SWX800.

<7> Bowen, H C, 1991, The Archaeology of Bokerley Dyke: Inventory, 25 (Monograph). SDO14864.

<7.1> Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photography, CUCAP OAP ANC 6 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18413.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209971 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 31 2022 12:29PM