Summary
The buried remains of approximately half of a circular enclosure of Middle Neolithic date, though the site has Early Neolithic origins. Early Bronze Age and Late Iron Age features and deposits are also present.
The two upstanding prehistoric Sarsen stones within the grounds, one known as the Druid Stone which was discovered by Hardy in 1891, the other uncovered during the late-1980s excavation in advance of the bypass, are no longer in-situ and were re-erected within the garden, but are included within the scheduling.
Reasons for Designation
The surviving part of the Neolithic Flagstones enclosure, and the two re-erected sarsen stones at Max Gate in Dorchester, are scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Rarity: the enclosure dates from a period in which relatively few monuments of any type have been recognised and are amongst the earliest monuments identified in the landscape around Dorchester;
* Survival: despite the fact that there have been losses, significant buried remains survive, as well as two upstanding sarsen stones. Evidence for Early Bronze Age, Iron Age and Romano-British features reflects a continued interest in the site during these later periods;
* Potential: the Neolithic remains retain considerable archaeological potential to further inform our understanding of the monument and the people who created and used it, as well as the landscape in which it was established;
* Documentation: the monument has been well-documented through archaeological investigations which enhances our knowledge. Pottery recovered from the site is amongst the earliest Neolithic assemblages recorded and documented in southern Britain;
* Group value: the remains are part of a dense concentration of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age funerary and ceremonial monuments in the area and will contribute valuable information about the continuity of land use and the importance of this landscape to prehistoric communities.
History
In the area around Dorchester, between the Rivers Frome and South Winterbourne, are a cluster of Neolithic monuments, including the enclosure known as Flagstones (named after the mid-C20 house that previously occupied part of the site) which have been identified as amongst the earliest known monuments to have been built in the area. The Neolithic enclosure is situated on Alington ridge, a chalk ridge on the south-east outskirts of Dorchester which was part of a significant ceremonial and ritual landscape and a focus for settlement and funerary monuments from the Neolithic to post-Roman periods.
The buried remains of the Flagstones enclosure were first identified during a geophysical survey along the route of the proposed Dorchester Bypass (A35) in 1982. Slightly more than half of the enclosure was fully excavated in 1987-1988 prior to the construction of the bypass which resulted in the destruction of the enclosure’s western half. In 1992 a geophysical survey was carried out within the grounds of Max Gate (listed at Grade I), the adjacent National Trust property and former home of the novelist Thomas Hardy, to establish the entire plan of the Neolithic enclosure but the results were inconclusive. It was not until 2022 (Papworth, 2023) that evidence for the eastern half was uncovered during targeted excavations at Max Gate.
The Flagstones enclosure comprised a single circuit of unevenly-spaced pits that formed an interrupted ditch some 100m in diameter. The chronology of the enclosure is not precisely understood. The date of its construction has been estimated to be Middle Neolithic (3365–2960 cal BC, 95% probability; Whittle et al, 2011 and 3265-3105 cal BC 95% probability; Greaney 2022, see Sources) based on radio-carbon dating of charcoal, antler and human bone samples recovered during the 1980s excavation. Radio-carbon dating of charcoal from a pit excavated in 2022, however, provided an early Neolithic date (3769-3642 cal BC, 95.4% probability; Papworth, 2023) although there is the possibility that this pit may be an earlier feature since several pits have been identified that pre-date the enclosure, perhaps by centuries. The earliest form of the monument is uncertain, though it has been suggested (Smith et al, 1997; Whittle et al, 2011) that the enclosure may perhaps have been preceded by a stone setting that was demolished before or soon after the enclosure was built.
The 1980s excavation uncovered little Late Neolithic material, suggesting that the enclosure was not modified or may have been avoided during this period (Greaney, 2022). It appears to have then been reused for funerary and other practices during the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Romano-British periods.
Max Gate and its grounds, which overlie the eastern half of the enclosure, was designed and built by Thomas Hardy, who had trained as an architect. It was his home from 1885 until his death in 1928. Several Late Iron Age and Romano-British burials were uncovered during the construction of the house. A large sarsen stone, called the Druid Stone, was also discovered at Max Gate in 1891 and erected in the grounds. Almost a century later, another sarsen uncovered during excavation in advance of the bypass was also re-sited there.
The Flagstones enclosure featured in an episode of the BBC series Digging for Britain which aired in 2023.
Details
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
The monument includes the buried remains of approximately half of a circular enclosure known as Flagstones which dates probably to the Middle Neolithic, though there is evidence of that the site has earlier origins during the Early Neolithic. It is sited on the crest and upper north-facing slope of a chalk ridge that runs parallel to the River Frome and is one of the earliest known monuments to have been built close to the Frome. The enclosure appears to have later been a focus for funerary and other activities, which include an Early Bronze Age burial and Late Iron Age pits and inhumations.
DESCRIPTION
The Neolithic enclosure is defined by a single circuit of pits of varying length, depth and spacing forming an interrupted ditch. Most of the pits have steep, almost vertical sides, and flat bottoms, and some have evidence of pick-marks. Engravings or pictograms, variously curvilinear, concentric, angular and linear in form and probably cut with flint, were uncovered on the lower parts of the side walls of four of the enclosure pits during the excavation in 1987-1988. The lower sections of the pits were found to have been filled rapidly and naturally soon after construction, possibly from banks or dumps of chalk rubble on either side. The rest of the infilling took place gradually. At the base of three of the enclosure pits human remains were found. These consisted of an adult cremation and several infant inhumations; two were sealed by a sandstone slab and a large sarsen respectively, while a fragment of sarsen was found close to the third burial. In addition to these burials, the body of a child had been placed in one of the pits at a later date. Several of the pits were found to have been cut by the interrupted ditch and are considered to pre-date the enclosure. The monument also includes two upstanding prehistoric Sarsen stones within the grounds of Max Gate.
Neolithic finds are relatively few but include pottery, a small quantity of fragmented and abraded animal bone, including several broken antler picks sealed within some of the enclosure pits, and fragments of sarsen, limestone and sandstone. Typologically the pottery is of the plain South-Western style (Hembury ware) but the pits that pre-date the enclosure contained fragments of carinated vessels; a style considered (Historic England, 2018) among the earliest pottery from southern England. A quantity of struck flints in the south-west quadrant of the enclosure were of late Neolithic character.
In the south-western quadrant of the enclosure were three pits within a penannular gully of probable Neolithic date. Finds were few, but each contained the partially-cremated remains of an adult, and two had a flint implement and a ceramic dish respectively. Fragments of sarsen, limestone and sandstone were also found. Two short lengths of parallel gully ditches and several postholes were excavated to the north of Max Gate in 2022. They survived only as hollow scrapes in the chalk, with few associated prehistoric finds. Towards the centre of the enclosure is an Early Bronze Age burial, approximately half of which was excavated in the 1980s, although the remainder may survive within the grounds of Max Gate. It contained a crouched adult male skeleton covered by a large unworked sarsen and sealed by a mound that survived as a slightly raised area of chalk rubble within a surrounding ditch. A large quantity of struck flint, mainly debitage, found on and around the ring ditch may be evidence that it was a focus for flint knapping. Around the ditch there were also clusters of intersecting pits.
The monument also contains some Late Iron Age and Romano-British features. In the late C19 three crouched inhumations in graves cut vertically into the chalk bedrock; one covered by a sarsen stone and several skeletons with no consistent orientation that may have been part of a larger cemetery were found. The remains of a horse and an iron spearhead were also discovered in a large pit, along with quantities of Romano-British pottery, brick, tile and glass. Purpose-cut graves and storage pits; some containing burials, along with a network of linear features were excavated in the western half of the monument, and in 2013, during the excavation of service trenches, two further inhumations of Romano-British date were uncovered at Max Gate. It is likely that further prehistoric and Romano-British features may survive in the unexcavated parts of the eastern half. There is evidence of considerable root and animal disturbance across the site, with later material introduced through the topsoil into the fills of prehistoric and Romano-British features, and that there has been some disturbance of the buried archaeology by later ploughing.
The two prehistoric sarsen stones within the grounds, one known as the Druid Stone which was discovered by Hardy in 1891, the other uncovered during the late-1980s excavation in advance of the bypass, are no longer in-situ and were re-erected in upright positions, are included within the scheduling.
EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The monument includes the surviving buried remains of the Neolithic enclosure, the two prehistoric sarsen stones, and also includes a margin of 5m around the north and south sides for its protection. To the west and east, the monument is defined by the boundary walls to the grounds of Max Gate. Any remains immediately west of the grounds of Max Gate which were not removed during the excavation and groundworks associated with the construction of the Dorchester bypass are considered to be fragmentary, isolated pockets, whilst those to the north and north-west are of uncertain nature and date.
EXCLUSIONS
The Grade-I listed Max Gate, Hardy’s former house and its coach house and stables, together with the greenhouse, sheds, garden urn and pergola, water pump, pet cemetery gravestones, boundary walls, fence and gate posts, sign posts, inspection chambers and cess pit, and the surfaces of the paths, driveway and yard are all excluded from the scheduling, but the ground beneath these features is, however, included.
