Monument record MDO8142 - Romano-British occupation at Swineham Point, Wareham St Martin

Swineham Point. Romano-British pottery has been found extensively over a wide area. Evaluation of the area in 1989-90 included test-pitting and geophysical survey over an area of 55 hectares, and confirmed the presence of a substantial Roman industrial settlement over 2 hectares. There are a number of enclosures in the settled area and a field system to the west. The site was inhabited from the Late Iron Age to the 4th century and can be seen as part of a wider network of such sites in Purbeck and around Poole Harbour, probably centred on trade through Hengistbury. A sub-square enclosure, field boundaries and trackways are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs of Swineham Point taken in 1971.

Swineham. Occupation debris comes from a field 600 yds E of Swineham Farm on Valley Gravel at the neck of an alluvial peninsula in Poole Harbour. Coarse pottery ranging from perhaps the 1st to the 4th century was found at least down to the water-table at a depth of about 3ft, mostly in what may have been a shallow ditch cut into natural sand. Many sherds occur in upcast from dyke-scouring between 94238801 and 94208808.(1-4). Romano-British pottery has been found extensively over a wide area. Evaluation of the area in 1989-90 included test-pitting and geophysical survey over an area of 55 hectares, and confirmed the presence of a substantial Roman industrial settlement over 2 hectares. There are a number of enclosures in the settled area and a field system to the west. The site was inhabited from the Late Iron Age to the 4th century and can be seen as part of a wider network of such sites in Purbeck and around Poole Harbour, probably centred on trade through Hengistbury (5).

A sub-square enclosure, field boundaries and trackways of probable Late Iron Age to Romano-British date are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs of Swineham Point taken in 1971 (6-7). The enclosure appears as a cropmarked bank approximately 39.2m x 33.5m in size, the bank varying in width from 5m on its western side to 3.5m on its eastern side. Cropmarks of a group of linear ditched features are visible just to the north-west of this enclosure and are considered likely to be the remains of field boundaries and trackways contemporary with the enclosure. These features were digitally plitted during the South West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (Dorset).

<1> Burr H G, 1953, Romano-British site, Swineham (Wareham St Martin), 96 (Article in serial). SWX8729.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1956, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1955, 127 (Serial). SDO55.

<3> Burr H G, 1955, The Romano-British site at Swineham, Wareham St Martin, 127 (Article in serial). SWX3090.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(17) SWINEHAM (SY 98 NW). Occupation Debris comes from a field 600 yds. E. of Swineham Farm on Valley Gravel at the neck of an alluvial peninsula in Poole Harbour. Coarse pottery ranging from perhaps the 1st to the 4th century was found at least down to the water-table at a depth of about 3 ft., mostly in what may have been a shallow ditch cut into natural sand (94228799). Many sherds occur in upcast from dyke-scouring between 94238801 and 94208808. (Dorset Procs. LXXVII (1955), 127.)’

<5> Smith, R J C, and Barnes, 1990, North Bestwall and Swineham Farms, Wareham, Dorset (Excavation archive). SWX3091.

<6> Royal Air Force, 27-OCT-1971, RAF/39/3817 0023-24 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12703.

<7> Royal Air Force, 27-OCT-1971, RAF/39/3817 0028-29 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12704.

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

Record last edited

Feb 5 2024 11:22AM