SDO9821 - Poundbury

Poundbury,- From the arrangements now in progress, it appears the Engineers of the Weymouth rail road will not interfere with this ancient Council field in any way to injure it; they avoid it as much as possible, but the line must descend into the valley, it is therefore quite impossible to avoid touching it altogether. Fordington Fields.- The Antiquarian Remains alluded to in our last have since been more closely examined. The pit or dark mould formed – no doubt, a long time ago, in the chalk soil, appears to be in depth 7 or 8, and in length about 14 or 15 feet, as far as may at present be discovered. Whether that pit consists of decomposed animal matter remains to be shown. Amongst the bones of sheep and horses some human teeth were found. The pottery is of a mixed kind; some fragments looking like modern flower pots; more, rude and antique and apparently Roman. Near Corfe Castle in ?[1783], and similarly placed in chalk, an urn was discovered containing five gallons of burned bones, the mouth downwards. The earth round it seemed made ground. In digging at Wynford Eagle many years since, sixteen urns were discovered by Mr. Sydenham, of that parish; mischievous urchins gave a laughable description of an imposition said to have been practised on the old gentleman by a Paul Salisbury, about a subterraneous hot oven discovered on that occasion. This is so much after the manner of the Great Wizard of the North – possibly having heard the anecdote, it may have suggested the idea of thence constructing the Antiquary, and the sketch of Jonathan Old Buck with ?[Edie] [Ocheltree’s] sarcastic and incredulous expose of antiquarian credulity. The impositions practised in such cases have been numerous, but in Dorchester such discoveries excite no wonder, surrounded as we are by objects of great and unquestioned antiquity on every side. A Roman coin was said to have been purchased from one of the workmen on Saturday. He is reported to have declared he had taken it from the newly opened pit. In East Stoke in ?[1759]; three urns two feet and a half high were found, full of decayed bones, with inverted mouths, within a couple of feet of the surface. Last week, in noticing the progress of the rail roads now traversing Fordington Field – purely with a view of fairly showing the spirit with which these works are advancing, we were – on authority deemed at the time sufficient, unintentionally led into a description of the Engineer’s plan – which does not now appear to be his design. By avoiding the Amphitheatre it was thought there arose a necessity for passing under the road. It is not so however; the rails will pass across the Wareham road, the Southampton railway terminus remaining near the Weymouth road.