Mount Pleasant

Also known as:
Monument No. 453935
Nearest town:
Dorchester (2km W)
OS reference:
SY709899
OS sheet:
194
Latitude:
50° 42' 26.63 N
Longitude:
2° 24' 43.79 W
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Mount Pleasant

H
Hally24 Sep 16, 2001
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Back in 1985 I undertook a watching brief to see what turned up at Mount Pleasant when Wessex Water stripped a 10m wide area to put in an 18 inch pipe. The area they stripped ran from the bottom left hand corner to the top right and passed over part of the bank. Oddly enough very little turned up apart from a clearer picture of the bank and ditch.

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Miscellaneous

Mount Pleasant
Henge
Chance
Chance May 29, 2014
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Details of henge on Pastscape

A large henge enclosure, partially extant as an earthwork, located on the southeast side of Dorchester. The site comprises a ditch and outer bank defining an irregular sub-oval area, the enclosure circuit being interrupted by four entrances. The maximum external diameter of the site is around 370 metres. Some excavation was undertaken in 1970-71 by G Wainwright. The principal features noted in the interior were a substantial circular post-hole structure comprising five concentric circles of post holes within a ditch circa 43 metres in diameter. The ditch was open to the north. In a second phase, the timber structures appear to have been replaced by central cove-like setting of standing stones. The main enclosure earthworks were themselves supplemented by construction of a palisade trench within and concentric to the inner side of the ditch. This palisade featured just two very narrow entrance gaps, each defined by massive post holes. The palisade enclosed an area of circa 245 metres by 270 metres. Analysis of aerial photographs has revealed more detail, including at least one additional entrance, a possible earlier phase of enclosure marked out by pits, evidence that part of the henge bank was heightened, traces of external ditches, and a possible approach from the River Frome to the northeast. Finds from Wainwright's excavations included Grooved Ware sherds from primary levels in the henge ditch. Slightly later were Beaker sherds and a decorated flat bronze axe from the north terminal of the ditch. Sporadic post-Bronze Age activity included a circular Iron Age structure and two Saxon burials. Both burials were extended inhumations. One was accompanied by an iron knife and may be 7th century in date.The Conquer Barrow (SY 78 NW 3) overlies the henge earthworks on the western side.

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Miscellaneous

Mount Pleasant
Henge
Rhiannon
Rhiannon May 15, 2003
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Mount Pleasant is at SY710898 just outside and to the East of Dorchester – a palisaded enclosure here surrounded the henge that's relatively visible today (you can see how in a diagram in Alex Gibson's paper at jungsteinsite.de/2000_gibson/hindwell.htm).

As palisaded enclosures go, it might not have been as big as the one at Hindwell – but it used the most ridiculously large timbers. The posts were much closer together than at Hindwell and were 9 metres tall (9 metres!). Not only that, but at the Eastern side, there was an entrance with two post holes 2m! in diameter and 2 metres deep. This suggests they contained HUGE oak posts, rising 6m above the ground, and weighing 17 tonnes each. I'm only quoting the archaeologists, so don't blame me if this sounds mad – we know our ancestors transported and raised the huge trilithons in Stonehenge, so I suppose we mustn't underestimate their ability to use wood in constructions.

Also interestingly, the gap formed as the entrance between these two enormous posts was only 70cm wide – begging the interpretation that the enclosure would have had to have been entered slowly, one at a time. The inner henge would then have acted as another 'restriction' on the entry of the people at the site.

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Miscellaneous

Mount Pleasant
Henge
phil
phil Dec 3, 2002
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Mount Pleasant henge is one of the large Wessex henges and lies about a mile east of Dorchester. The bank was originally about four metres high surrounding an egg-shaped enclosure about 370 metres along its longer axis and about 320 metres along the shorter one. Originally the 4.8 hectare area could be accessed by four entrances. The bank is outside the ditch which had a diameter of about 43 metres with a single entrance.

more info at....

btinternet.com/~ron.wilcox/onlinetexts/onlinetexts-chap6.htm

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Sites within 20km of Mount Pleasant

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