Monument record MDO522 - Prehistoric burial, 17A Knighton Lane, Broadmayne

A prehistoric burial found during a machine excavation for a vehicle inspection pit within a garage to be constructed at 17A Knighton Lane, Broadmayne. An Early Bronze Age burial possibly overlain by a Barrow . Neolithic to Bronze Age flints were also found.

SY 72998677. Excavations for a vehicle inspection pit in a garage at 17A Knighton Lane, Broadmayne in June 1980, partly uncovered a flexed
burial within a shallow depression and sealed by a deposit 0.4m thick,beneath sedimental deposits up to 1.6m deep, on gently sloping ground.Cutting through the sedimental layers, was a 'V'-profile ditch runningnorth west-south east, 2.0m wide and 1.0m deep, containing carbonised grain, a group of 3rd-4th century pottery, and a lozenge-shaped roof-tile. The size of the ditch suggests a substantial enclosure; it was at right angles to the slope.

There was no direct dating evidence with the burial, but it is likely that it is of the same period, the Early Bronze Age, as those
previously found in Broadmayne (see SY 78 NW 42). The sealing depositover the burial may be the remaining core of a ploughed-out barrow; itcontained flints within the late Neolithic-Bronze Age period.

Occupation of the site appears to be from the late Iron Age to the 4th century A.D. Possibly a farmstead. Finds are to be deposited in
Dorset County Museum. <1>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1982, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1980, 100-101 (Serial). SDO80.

In June, 1980, machine excavation for a vehicle inspection pit within a garage to be constructed at 17A Knighton Lane, showed that up to 1.6 metres of sediments had accumulated above the underlying chalk bedrock. At the base of this accumulation within a shallow depression was a flexed burial much disturbed by the machine excavation. It was possible to hand excavate the skeletal remains which were located in the north-east corner of the cutting, but not expose the full extent of the burial cut nor extend the machine trench, due to the depth of the deposits. The sides of the trench were cleaned and straightened by hand, and the trench had plan dimensions of about 2.5 m by 4.5 metres.
The burial (see also below) was flexed and laid with the head to the north-west, and faced north-east. It was covered by a deposit of broken chalk and clayey loam to a depth of about 0.4m. This deposit had been susequently cut away and progressively buried by the overlying deposits.
The composition of these overlying sediments and the position of the burial on gently sloping ground suggest that they were the result of agricultural soil movement, and that the burial had become sealed underneath an extensive positive lynchet running along the valley contour above the spring line of the Winterbourne stream running north-east from Broadmayne.
Cut through this sediment accumulation at the western end of the trench, and at a level of 0.6m above the sealing layers of the burial, was a ditch running north-west to south-east, and at right angles to the slope. This ditch was about 2 metres wide and 1 metre in depth with a 'V' profile. There was little initial slumping of the ditch and it would appear that it was progressively filled with refuse and soil soon after cutting. At the base of the ditch was a deposit of carbonised grain. The group of pottery recovered from the lower ditch deposits dated the ditch to the late 3rd-4th century AD (see below). The upper filling of the ditch was plough derived and contained some building debris, including a lozenge shaped roofing tile. It was probably ploughing that removed any evidence of a bank, and contributed to the subsequent soil accumulation, which contained much post-medieval pottery and accrued to a depth of 0.6m above the cut of the late Roman ditch.
Although there was no direct dating evidence with the burial it was clear from subsequent activity on the site that it was of prehistoric date. Two crouched burials accompanied by beakers have previously been recorded to the south in Broadmayne village at SY 726866, Peers and Clarke (1966), Young (1973), and it is most likely that this burial would belong to the same period in the Early Bronze Age. The sealing deposit immediately over the burial may also represent the remaining core of a much mutilated and ploughed out barrow. The only finds recovered from the levels sealing this burial and below the 4th century ditch were of knapped flint. This flint assemblage could be placed within the Late Neolithic-Bronze Age.

<2> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454113 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 4 2024 4:16PM