Monument record MDO81 - Enclosure on Church Hill, Alton Pancras

A square ditched enclosure on Church Hill at aprox 760ft. The interior is featureless. Undated, perhaps Roman or possibly Medieval.
Undated enclosure on Church Hill, ST 71560358. It consists of a rhomboidal area of approximately 0.4 acre bounded by a bank 1 1/2 feet high with an external ditch 1 foot deep. There is an entrance 15 feet wide in the middle of the east side. The interior is featureless. <2-3>

Centred at ST 71570360 on Church Hill, partly under pasture, partly under woodland, and adjacent to an old east-west routeway, stands a well preserved rectangular enclosure as planned and described by RCHM. The wood immediately southwest of the enclosure, carries the name 'Bloody Tent Wood' which may, or may not, be significant. The enclosure age is problematic but the uniformly sharp profile of the bank suggests a Medieval/Post Medieval date. However, it does bear a strong resemblance to the enclosure 'Church Ditches' (SU 05 SE 12), classified as probable IA.

Just to the south of the enclosure at ST 71560355 there is a detached portion of earthen bank (depicted by slope symbol on OS 25") 25.0m long, 2.5m wide and 0.5m high, with a ditch on the north side which forms a continuous line with the ditch of Watcombe Wood boundary. It would seem therefore, that this features is a misaligned modern boundary-bank not associated with the nearby enclosure. Enclosure visible on OS air photographs. Surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD and AM. <4>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1962 (Map). SWX1540.

(ST 71560358) Enclosure (NR)

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 4 (Monograph). SDO146.

‘(19) ENCLOSURE (71560358) lies on Church Hill at about 760 ft. O.D. It consists of a rhomboidal area of approximately 2/5 acre bounded by a bank 1½ ft. high with an external ditch 1 ft. deep. There is an entrance 15 ft. wide in the centre of the E. side. The interior is featureless.’

<3> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF CPE/UK/1975 1039-40 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17446.

<4> Barrett, G, Various, Field Investigators Comments GB, F1 GB 19-OCT-78 (Unpublished document). SDO17369.

<4.1> Ordnance Survey, OS 74/058/047-48 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17447.

<5> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB74/04558 (Index). SDO14738.

PLAN OF ENCLOSURE OF UNKNOWN DATE. ENTRANCE ON EAST SIDE

<6> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB76/07695 (Index). SDO14738.

PLAN OF UNDATED ENCLOSURE WITH EAST ENTRANCE

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 201943 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 13 2022 11:47AM