| Summary : An enclosure, known as Round Pound, situated on an elevated part of Chaldon Down. The Round Pound was recorded by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England in 1970. It is defined by a bank composed of chalk and earth, with maximum dimensions of 14 metres in width and about 1.5 metres in height. The bank is surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. The ditch has become infilled over the years, but is known to survive as a buried feature 7.5 metres wide. The only identifiable entrance is situated to the south of the eastern corner and includes a gap 3 metres wide. The bank and ditch enclose a slightly dished area, sub-square in plan which covers about 0.6 hectares. The interior of the enclosure is higher than the surrounding ground. The only dating evidence from the site is a sherd of Iron Age pottery with finger tip decoration. This was recovered from the western corner of the enclosure bank by RCHME staff during survey work. Scheduled. |
More information : (SY 79638168) Round Pound (NAT) Earthwork (NR) (1)
The Round Pound (SY 79638168), lies at about 480ft. above O.D. on
Chaldon Down, part of an undulating E to W chalk ridge here
covered by angular flint gravel. The earthwork is on a knoll
but with a rise to the S.W. blocking any view towards Portland.
Visibility is otherwise extremely good and extends from the
Hardy Monument in the W., to Bindon Hill, Flowers Barrow and
St. Aldhelm's Head in the E and to the limits of the chalk
downs on the N. The date is unknown; the only evidence is a single sherd of Iron Age 'A ware with finger-tip decoration found by RCHM staff scraped from the body of the bank at the W corner.
A single defensive bank about 36ft. across at its base and at
most 5 1/2 ft high above the rather dished interior and 10 ft.
above an external ditch about 25 ft wide encloses an irregular,
roughly square area of about 1/6 acre with sides 80 ft. to 110
ft long. The interior ground level is somewhat higher than the
outside. The rounded corners at the N and W are notably higher
than the general run of the sides. The only possible entrance
is a dip in the crest of the bank for about 10ft. immediately
S. of the very rounded E corner. This depression is not
certainly original, however, since the scarp of the bank falls
for some 4ft. below it to the outside and perhaps 3ft. to the
inside. The earthwork has been much disturbed and to the E the ditch, elsewhere almost filled, has been completely obscured. Plan. (2)
Round Pound (name not confirmed) at SY 79638169 remains as described by RCHM (2) under rough pasture.
Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. utilising the RCHM plan. (3)
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