Monument record MDO5696 - Urnfield at Simon's Ground, Hampreston, Ferndown Town

SU 061001. A number of Late Bronze Age burial urns were found in 1953 at Simon's Ground, Stapehill; it was reported that many more urns and other objects had been found in the past, but not kept. None of the urns recovered intact, apart from one whichcrumbled as it dried out. Some of the pots contained burnt bone. (1)

SU 06250005. A large Deverell-Rimbury urnfield with over eighty burials, and an immediately adjacent round barrow about 40ft. In diameter, were excavated in 1967. Trial trenching in areas adjacent to barrows revealed the existence of three more barrows, one with at least five secondary cremations in urns. At Simon's Ground, Hampreston. (2)

C14 determinations have been made for two of the barrows:
Barrow E (centre) -917 bc I 55 (BM-694)
Barrow E (pits in West part) 741 bc I 58 (BM-696)
Barrow C (Chancel in primary Urn) -604 BC I 47 (BM-692). (7)

Full report on the excavations. (8)

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1956, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1954, 96 (Serial). SDO54.

'A Late Bronze Age urnfield at Stapehill, Hampreston; SU(41)/061001. In 1953 Mr. David Trehane, of Simon's Ground, Stapehill, reported the discovery of a number of burial urns on the ridge east of the road fork at Stapehill, in land newly taken into cultivation. One or two urns had been ploughed up by Mr. Trehane on adjoining land before the war, and a local nurseryman told him that many more urns and other objects had been found in the past, but not kept.

The urns reposed just below ground level and were damaged by the tractor, although one was recovered intact except for its upper part. It began to crumble as it dried out. The subsoil, as Mr. Trehane remarks, is Bagshot sand, and the urns rested "in the white sand of the podsol with their bases on the clay below". Several flat pieces of ironstone appeared to have been used as covers.

Mr. Calkin visited the site in April on behalf of the Society, and reported that there were the remains of three urns, while another was dug out by Mr. Trehane and himself. These four consisted of "featureless lower halves of urns ; some are of 'C' ware. Three had capstones. As some pots contain burnt bone it is clearly an urnfield". Mr. Calkin has recently added that he was told that five more urns were found later in the year, too brittle to be worth removal. He has sketches of two urns that he saw, one barrel and one bucket, and one other was a bucket.'

<2> Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, 1969, Excavations Annual Report, 8 (Serial). SDO20593.

<3> Wardale, C F, Various, Field Investigators Comments CFW, F1 CFW 25-MAR-69 (Unpublished document). SWX2704.

<4> Department of the Environment, 1969, Department of the Environment Archaeological Excavations 1969, 7-8 (Serial). SWX2426.

<5> White, D A, 1970, Excavations on Bronze Age and other Barrows in East and South Dorset for the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 175-176 (Article in serial). SDO20592.

<6> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 29 (Monograph). SDO129.

<7> Grinsell, L V, 1982, Dorset Barrows Supplement, 15 Table A (Monograph). SWX1703.

<8> White, D A, 1982, The Bronze Age Cremation Cemeteries at Simon's Ground, Dorset (Monograph). SDO14047.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 457862 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 25 2024 9:42AM