Monument record MDO8395 - Medieval burial, Worth Matravers

Part of a monumental slab of Purbeck marble with the relief of an ornamented cross on a stepped base, was ploughed up in 1957 about 400 yards north-north-east of St Aldhelm's Head, at approx. SY 96187588. The ornamented slab is of a well-known type and possibly dates from 1250-1275 AD.

A small excavation on the site by Brown and Calkin failed to recover the missing piece, but exposed a stone foundation, 6ft 6ins square, immediately adjoining; a scatter of rubble surrounding suggested a small building. Further excavation revealed a stone-lined grave, 3ft below the spot where the slab was found, containing an extended female inhumation together with iron rivets and traces of wood which were suggestive of a wooden grave cover. The grave may have been that of a local anchoress, and the stone foundation either the remains of her cell, or a shrine erected after her death; alternatively she may have been a leper. The monumental slab has been placed in St. Nicholas's Church, Worth Matravers (see SY 97 NE 48) <2-3>

<1> Calkin J B, 1957, Monumental Slab from St. Aldhelm's Head, p105 Photo. (Article in serial). SWX2757.

105, Photo

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1959, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1957, 105, Photo (J B Calkin) (Serial). SDO57.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 2, 411, Fn 1 (Monograph). SDO149.

‘Fittings - Coffins and Coffin-lids: In porch, (3) fragment of lid, Purbeck marble, with hollow-chamfered edge and raised cross, discovered in 1957 approx. 400 yds. N.N.E. of St. Aldhelm's chapel over a burial (fn. 1). Footnote: 1. Dorset Procs. LXXIX (1957), 105. Foundations 6½ ft. square, perhaps for a small building, were found near the burial.’

<4> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 412 (Index). SDO147.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456474 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 13 2023 2:31PM