Dungeon Hill is an
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
hillfort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
, about north of the village of
Buckland Newton
Buckland Newton is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated beneath the escarpment, scarp slope of the Dorset Downs, south of Sherborne. In the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census the civil pa ...
in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
, England. It is a
scheduled monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
.
[
]
Description
The fort is on a low hill, height ; it has a single bank in a roughly oval shape, enclosing an area of about . The rampart is wide and about above the interior. It has an external ditch of width and depth . The height of the rampart above the base of the ditch is up to . There are traces af an outer bank on the east side.["Minterne Magna", in ''An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset'', Volume 1, West (London, 1952), pp. 167-170.]
British History Online. Retrieved 30 September 2019.[
On the east facing slope of the hill there are four ]lynchet
A lynchet or linchet is an Terrace (earthworks), earth terrace found on the side of a hill. Lynchets are a feature of ancient field systems of the British Isles. They are commonly found in vertical rows and more commonly referred to as "strip lyn ...
s, suggesting cultivation in the medieval period.[
]
Remains found
In the late 18th century Fitzwalter Foy, resident of nearby Duntish Court,"Buckland Newton", in ''An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset'', Volume 3, Central (London, 1970), pp. 48-54.
British History Online. Retrieved 30 September 2019. who was the owner of the fort, cleared the site of woodland, and he recovered human bones, sword blades, Roman coins and other finds. In 1881 there was some excavation of the site: Roman pottery, fragments of Roman querns
Quern-stones are stone tools for hand-grinding a wide variety of materials. They are used in pairs. The lower stationary stone of early examples is called a saddle quern, while the upper mobile stone is called a muller, rubber or handstone. The ...
and building stone were found; Roman tiles were found in the interior.[
]
See also
* Hillforts in Britain Hillforts in Britain refers to the various hillforts within the island of Great Britain. Although the earliest such constructs fitting this description come from the Neolithic British Isles, with a few also dating to later Bronze Age Britain, Briti ...
References
{{Iron Age hillforts in England
Hill forts in Dorset
Scheduled monuments in Dorset