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Uninscribed altars-
- name Kingston PL altar
- site Kingston [Barn], near Corfe Castle, 1960
- grid SY 9626 7894
- source Farrar RAH 1971
- publ Farrar RAH 1961 p.85-86
- publ Taylor and Wilson 1961 p.188
- publ Calkin JB 1968 p. 59
- desc An uninscribed altar of Middle Purbeck limestone
found by PA Brown, near track S of Kingston Barn
where he had previously found RB and perhaps
earlier pottery and large slabs of limestone turned up by the plough
(PDNHAS 74 93,
76 79, 82 86)
- desc Site on lower Purbeck beds at over 400ft ASL to W of
Coombe Bottom reentrant and 1/2mile NE of settlements and ancient fields
at West Hill, Kingston
- desc 14.5in high, plain back, simply and not quite [symmetrically]
curved to form base, die and capital of an altar of normal Roman shape.
Some representation of carved faggots at sides of focus may have been
attempted but has not survived.
- desc The first object of its kind of Roman date found in the county
- desc ``FW Anderson, Dept of Palaeontol., Geol. Surv. says:
almost certainly Middle Purbeck `Feather Bed' type stone, a hard
shelly limestone quarried at one time in Purbeck. Very similar
indeed to the Purbeck Stone used in the Saxon Wareham St Martin's,
and seems to have been commonly used for
steps and paving
in Norman and Mediaeval buildings
presum. because it provides a non-slip surface however worn''.
- loc Mr Brown and Col Scott [landowner] have loaned it to DCM;
on display 2000 Oct
- subst Geol Surv: PL, Feather Bed
- subst
JP: Clements DB108, perhaps
-
- name Norden Well Altars
- site Norden, Corfe Castle, c. 1971
- grid SY 958 826
- source Farrar RAH 1971
- source RB in 1972, Britannia 4 p.316
- publ Hughes M 1972,
PDNHAS 94 76-77
- publ Hughes M 1973,
PDNHAS 95 91
- desc Farrar 1971:
"Mr [PA] Brown has since discovered 2 smaller altars
in a yet unpublished Roman well at Norden ...
of plain waisted form without distinct base or capital
and apparently of Purbeck stone"
- desc Britannia: 2 uninscribed altars
- desc Hughes 1972: "Evidence for the ritual character of the site, in the
main arising from Mr Brown's excavations before 1972, is provided by two
small uninscribed limestone altars found by him at the well entrance - one
in association with the wall structure, the other lying nearby on the chalk
floor - and by the presence of a complete sheep's skull deposited at the
bottom of the well."
- desc JP: each about 250mm high, 90mm square top and bottom,
slightly waisted, recess in top, incised horizontal grooves round
top and bottom
- loc DCM, archaeological reserve collection
- subst Small-gastropod limestone, very likely PM
- date early 2nd--early 5th cent.
- comment Close to
Norden RB industrial site,
q.v.
- cont Peter Woodward
Uninscribed marker-stones-
-
- name Ower marker stone
- cat DUBIUM
- site Cleavel Point, Ower
- grid SZ 00 86
- publ Sunter and Woodward 1987, p.105
- desc Possible marker stone or stele. Found reused in the sill wall
footing of a building. 90cm high of which upper 2/3 is a truncated cone
20cm diam at top, 30cm at bottom, the remainder roughly rectangular and
unfinished (would be embedded in ground). Weight est. 254kg.
Illus.
p.106, fig.56, no.256.
Supposed land-marker stone. Parallels in Northants and Brittany, and
elsewhere in the Roman empire from the Gracchan period (c.130 BC).
- loc displayed at centre of (new) Rempstone stone circle in the grounds
of Bushey House, Rempstone, SY 9874 8240
- subst unknown but compared to a
PL marker from Worgret
- date found reused in a C3-4 building
Cist burials and stone-lined graves-
- name Studland cist burial (1952)
- site Studland St Nicholas churchyard, 1952
- grid SZ 0364 8255
- source Beavis
- publ Calkin J B 1952 p.52
- publ 1953, RB in 1952, JRS 43 p.125
- desc Beavis(?): A cist of PM slabs containing a decapitated
female burial; weathered PM 2 to 2 1/2in thick. Linked with RB settlement
at Woodhouse Hill.
- desc Calkin: ``Owing to sandy soil and proximity of several
recently dug graves, the sides of the excavation were very unstable and
only a partial examination was possible ... The grave was on rising
ground to N of the church, its foot .. in alignment with the W wall, and
38 1/2 yards distant. Cist measured about 5ft 9in by 1ft 11in externally,
the walls .. 1ft 5in hight. Sides, ends and coverstones consisted of
weathered PM slabs some 2 to 2 1/2in thick. The cover stone previously
[sc. at the start of the excavation]
seen at the N end was found in position. A single slab nearly 4ft length
which had served to cover the rest of the cist was cracked lengthways ..
the floor was roughly paved along the 4 sides with small pieces of thin
friable Purbeck stone [PL]'' [Decapitated female burial.]
``In recent years other stone cists
seem to have been encountered by Mr Wm Frogatt [sexton]
but these .. he supposed to be old land drains .. ''
- comment See also
a second cist found nearby in 1955 and
Langton Matravers PM cist of Bronze Age date
-
- name Studland churchyard cist burial (1955)
- site Studland St Nicholas churchyard, 1955
- grid SZ 036 825
- source Beavis
- publ Farrar RAH 1955,
Archaeological Fieldwork in Dorset, PDNHAS 77 126
- desc Farrar: ``A further burial of the Roman period was found
in Nov.1955 in the extension of the graveyard at Studland church.
Mr Calkin reports that the full particulars available are that the
skeleton was in a cist of PM slabs a few yards N of
the burial
excavated by him in 1952''
- subst Calkin teste Farrar: PM
-
- name Priest's Caravan Park burials
- site Herston, Swanage, c.1974
- grid SZ 0191 7828
- source Dorset SMR
- publ Dowdell 1974
- publ Jarvis 1982
- desc Three cist burials, local limestone cists; Iron Age tradition of
short cist burials lasts till 3rd cent. AD (Jarvis)
- subst PL
- date probably Roman from manner of burial, but might be earlier
-
- name Kimmeridge 1944 cist burial
- site Kimmeridge, 1944
- grid SY 9188 8008
- publ Calkin 1952 p.49
- desc On 6 Mar 1944 an American bulldozer exposed 2 stone cists
on the E edge of this track at about 9188 8008 ... Dr Dru Drury states that
they contained skeletons of an adult and child. The sides and coverstones
... limestone but the ends of the longer [cist] were of KS ... the same
two materials were found in a RB cist found near
Gaulter Gap in 1947 ... Parts of the 2 cists are still in situ.
Cf. 2 cists that came to light in a field about 1/4 mile S of Bradle Farm
house in Church Knowle parish (Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries I 1890 p.47, Dorset County Chron. 17 May 1888).
-
- name Gaulter Gap cist burial
- site Kimmeridge, 130yd NW of Gaulter Gap
- grid SY 907 793 approx
- publ Calkin JB 1947
- desc [Burial of] old woman,
head near shins, jar nearby, in cist,
with limpets, snails, and spindlewhorl of KS.
Resting more or less on the cover of the cist was a second skeleton
and another spindlewhorl. Mandible found near knees. Coin of Carausius.
Covering of cist was 2 slabs of PL about 1.5in thick, which fitted snugly
together with no more than 1/4in gap. They overlapped the 4 walls except
at the foot, where the coverstone was 1/2in too short ... Joint between
the two stones covered by a 2in slab of KS, badly warped and cracked.
[ Cist of lower burial extended by adding KS slabs at head end. ]
- date not before late C3 (coin)
- comment see also
Kimmeridge 1944 cist
-
- name Kingston possible cist
- cat DOUBTFUL
- site Kingston Barn, Corfe Castle
- grid SY 9635 7885
- publ Brown PA, in Farrar RAH 1952, Archaeological fieldwork
in Dorset 1952, PDNHAS 74 93
- desc Scatter of RB sherds and flint flakes in an arable field
S of Kingston Barn on the Kingston-Swanage road, found when investigating
some large upended slabs of Purbeck stone, disturbed by the plough.
``May have been a burial cist''
- loc Now lost (Brown loc. cit.)
-
- name Fovant burials
- site Fovant, Wilts, old churchyard near disused railway, 1915.
South of Fir Hill Plantation
- grid SU 0033 2914 (?)
- source Pugh and Crittall 1957
- publ Engleheart GH 1917
- publ Cunnington ME 1932 p.189
- desc Found during construction of light military railway.
3 graves lined with
Purbeck stone from Teffont.
Iron hobnails at the feet of one body.
Vessel of hard grey pottery.
Englehart mentions a tradition of other such burials at this site,
and of similar cists found at
Teffont
- loc One skull in Salisbury museum
- loc Hobnails in Devizes museum (WAM 39 521)
- subst PL
-
Sarcophagi or coffins-
- site Poundbury, Dorchester
- publ Farwell DE 1993 p.64
- desc Coffin of Portland limestone, with gabled lid
-
- name Portland stone sarcophagus
- site Portland, North Common
- source RCHM Dorset, vol 2 part 3, p.523
- desc undated sarcophagus of hewn stone, in a cemetery apparently
of 2nd century AD
- subst probably PL or PS
- date probably 2nd century
-
- name Teffont RB Occupation
- site Teffont, Wilts
- grid ST 990 310
- source Pugh and Crittall 1957 p.113
- publ Goddard EH 1914 p.329
- publ Engleheart GH 1932
- publ Cunnington ME 1932 p.205
- desc
In Teffont Evias Quarry, interments
found before 1930, no details; in Sept. 1930 a stone coffin with possible
traces of inner wooden coffin, and hobnails; a bronze coin of Tetricus II
near the spot; in Oct. 1930 another coffin containing an adult male skeleton.
A twisted ring of base gold found with a burial c.1930 given to Salisbury
Museum 1950.
- desc Cunnington: site 158, quarry S of church (old limekiln?) RB pottery and
skeletons, see Goddard [op.cit.]
- desc Pugh and Crittall: Roman brooch found 200m E, copse S of church,
at SU 992 310
- loc Ring, and brooch, Salisbury Museum
- subst Not stated but likely to be PL from location
- comment Tradition of cist burials, supposedly RB in date, in this area, see
burials at Fovant and
Ham Cross Farm, Teffont
Miscellaneous-
- site Colchester, Beverley Road
- grid TL 9861 2485
- source RB in 1997, Britannia 29 (1998) p.407
- desc Reexamination of the findspot of the tombstone of Longinus
showed that almost all the Roman road metalling had been removed in 1928.
More limestone fragments from the tombstone were discovered along with
2 inhumations and a redeposited cremation. N of the road are features
including
a structure in brick and Purbeck stone,
perhaps the base of a tomb monument. Work continues.
- cont A. J. Fawn, P. Gilman, Colchester Archaeological Group
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