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Maiden Castle, Winterborne St Martin

Dorset, England · Atlas EN3598

Maiden Castle, Winterborne St Martin is a contour fort in Winterborne St Martin, Dorset, England.

Other names on the record: Maiden Castle, Dorchester.

It is recorded as extant, with a partial bivallate and partial multivallate rampart form, surface evidence of earthen bank, counterscarp bank, and berm, and an enclosed area of 18.5 hectares.

Banks or ramparts are the remains most likely to be visible.

The topographic record places it on a knoll or outcrop and at 132 m.

The aspect is recorded as level.

Recorded land use includes pasture.

Dating evidence is recorded for 800–400 BC, 400 BC–AD 50, and AD 50–400 (Artefactual and C14). Reliability is recorded as A - High.

A scheduled monument number is recorded (1015775).

Location

Atlas number
EN3598 (3598)
Country
England
Current county or unitary authority
Dorset
Historic county
Dorset
Parish, community, or townland
Winterborne St Martin
National Grid reference
SY66938848
Latitude
50.69486
Longitude
-2.47050
Altitude
132 m

Form and condition

Type
contour fort
Condition
Extant
Morphology
partial bivallate and partial multivallate
Complete rampart circuit
Yes
Number of ramparts
3
Ramparts by quadrant
NE 2, SE 3, SW 3, NW 2
Number of ditches
3
Possible original entrances
2
Breaks through the ramparts
2
Enclosed area
18.5 ha
Enclosure areas
7.5 ha, 18.5 ha
Enclosing works, as visible
earthen bank, counterscarp bank, and berm
Enclosing works, excavated
earthen bank
Also recorded
multi-period enclosure system and ditches
Entrance forms
Outworks (East); Over-lapping (East); Outworks (West); Over-lapping (West)

Landscape

Topographic position
knoll or outcrop
Aspect
level
Land use
pasture

Dating

Dating
800–400 BC, 400 BC–AD 50, and AD 50–400
Dating evidence
Artefactual and C14
Dating reliability
A - High

Interior and investigation

Interior surface
curvilinear platforms
Interior excavation
pits, postholes, roundhouses, rectangular structures, and roads or tracks
Finds
pottery, metal, human bones, and lithics
Investigations
Other (1865); Excavation (1871); Excavation (1884); 1st Identified Map Depiction (1888); Excavation (1951); Other (1966); Geophysical Survey (1985); Earthwork Survey (1994); Earthwork Survey (1997); Other (2016); 1st Identified Written Reference (1665-169

Identifiers

Scheduled monument number
1015775
HER
Dorset MDO3244
National record
record SY 68 NE 7; monument 451864
Wikidata
Q1232816

Sources

References

  1. Brown, I. 2009. Beacons in the landscape. The hillforts of England a d Wales, Oxford: Windgather Press/Oxbow Books.
  2. Gale, J. 2003. Prehistoric Dorset, Stroud: Tempus Publishing.
  3. RCHME 1970. An inventory of historical monuments in the County of Dorset, Vol 2, pt 3: south-east, 493-501,London: RCHME.
  4. Sharples, N.M. 1991. Maiden Castle. Excavations and filed survey 1985-6. London: English Heritage.
  5. Sharples, N.M. 1991. Maiden Castle, Batsford/English Heritage.
  6. Wheeler, R.E.M. 1943. Maiden Castle, Dorset, Soc Antiq Res Rept 12, Oxford