| Summary : Anglo Saxon burh of Wareham, defences rebuilt during the 10th and 11th centuries. Fortified from the beginning of Alfred's reign, it was a minor mint from the reign of Athelstan onwards. It is the only burh for which the defences still survive largely intact. The defences of Wareham are first mentioned in 876 in the account of the war between King Alfred and the Danes. Wareham is included in the list of fortresses defending the frontiers of Wessex known as the Burghal Hidage. This list, which was drawn up under Edward the Elder and probably between 910 and 919, represents the full development of the system established by King Alfred and his successor; there is good reason to believe that its outline was laid down by King Alfred in the years preceeding the Danish invasion of 892. In the Burghal Hidage 1600 hides are allocated to the maintenance and defence of Wareham, sufficient according to the annexed document to support ramparts measuring 2200 yards, a figure which approximates very closely to the length of the banks enclosing the town on the West, North and east sides. The town covers a roughly square area of about 91 acres and the earthwork defences surrounding it on the Niorth, East and West sides are known as the 'Walls'; the South side is bounded by the River Frome. The West Walls were scarped against attack by tanks in 1940. |
More information : (Name Centred SY 920874 & 926876) Town Walls (NR)
(Name Centred SY 919874) Bloody Bank (NR) (1)
The defences of Wareham are mentioned in 876 in the account of the war between King Alfred and the Danes. Warehem is included in the list of fortresses defending the frontiers of Wessex known as the Burghal Hidage. This list, which was drawn up under Edward the Elder
and probably between 910 and 919, represents the full development of the system established by King Alfred and his successor; there is good reason to believe that its outline was laid down by King Alfred in the years preceeding the Danish invasion of 892. In the Burghal Hidage 1600 hides are allocated to the maintenance and defence of Wareham, sufficient according to the annexed document to support ramparts measuring 2200 yards, a figure which approximates very closely to the length of the banks enclosing the town on the W., N. and E. sides (A. J. Robertson, Anglo Saxon Charters (1939), 246-9). The town covers a roughly square area of about 91 acres and the earthwork defences surrounding it on the N. E. and W sides are known as the 'Walls'; the S. side is bounded by the river Frome. The West Walls were scarped against attack by tanks in 1940.
Excavation, observations, and chance finds provide evidence of Iron Age occupation on the site and more widespread evidence of Roman settlement.
In 1952-4, the Commission conducted excavations on the West Walls (Med. Arch III (1959), 120-38). The defences were judged to date from the reign of King Alfred, with the addition of a stone wall in the late 10th or 11th century and the recutting of the ditch in the 12th century.
The town had four main entrances more or less central in the sides, taking roads roughly E-W and N-S through the defences. Widening has destroyed any remains of the original arrangements, though where North Street now runs up a steep cutting with incurving scarps on either side Hutchins saw 'two very large bastions' (Hutchins I, 77-80 94-5). A gap in the N side between this cutting and the NW angle is probably later; so too are other gaps in the defences on the E and W at the ends of lanes. On the W the line of the defences, which commences at the bank of the Frome and runs N.W. for 585 yards, is notably straighter than elsewhere. Apart from a rough mound just S of West Street and slight traces suggesting a flattened rampart 100 yards S of it, only a ditch 50ft to 70ft. wide and 13ft. deep survives in the S part.
The suggestion of a counterscarp bank commencing 50 yards from the S end of, this side is probably due to the scarping of the irregular edge of the river terrace by later tracks, one of which runs into the ditch at this point. N of West Stret the rampart survives but the ditch is only traceable towards the NW corner, though no doubt it continued S for the whole length before the present parallel road was constructed. The N part of the ditch had been partly dug into a gully dropping N through the natural scarp above the river Piddle. The upper part of the rampart has been thrown into the ditch for a distance of 160 yards. N. of West Street and the internal height of about 15ft thereby reduced to 12ft. Where the rampart is best preserved it is 12ft high above the interior and 26ft above the bottom of the ditch, this last being 55ft wide. About 30ft W. of the ditch a scarp rises steeply W. Only the slightest fall is now detectable beyond it and this feature is mostly natural in origin; it may be this that Hutchins describes as an 'outer rampart much defaced'.
In the Commission's excavations the rampart and ditch were sectioned completely in one place; the rampart alone was sectioned in two others and tested at a fourth point. Late Iron Age storage pits and Roman occupation material, including New Forest wares of the late 3rd or 4th century, were sealed by a rampart over 9ft high and 47 ft wide, perhaps revetted externally with timber (later scarping had removed the face, but P.S. see Pt 1 p. lxx). It consisted mostly of sand and gravel apparently coming from an external ditch, of which all traces had been removed by later recutting. The black earth containing occupation material which comprised the upper layers seemed to have been derived from behind the rampart where a depression indicating some quarrying was visible in the section. This had already been suggested by observing of a pipe trench cut c. 1930 just to the N of the Commission excavation (C. D. Drew, Dorset Procs LII (1930), lxxxvii-viii), but an observer of a nearby pipe trench cut in 1953 noted that there was no internal quarrying at that point (R. A. H. Farrar, Dorset Procs LXXVIII (1956), 77-8).
After some time had elapsed a layer of river loam 4ft thick was added to the rear of the rampart and a stone wall was erected on the crest. The latter had a mortar raft to support footings at least 7ft wide, and a footpath of sand and clay 15ft wide ran
behind it. A mortar flange waterproofed the outer edges of the wall footing. Subsequently the wall was thoroughly robbed down to its foundations, a flat-bottomed ditch was dug 30ft wide and 18 feet deep, and some of the material from it dumped on top of the rampart.
At the NW corner of the defences the rampart is 15ft high measured from the inside. The natural surface tilts W to the gully already mentioned but the rampart was built up to the same height as elsewhere. Externally it drops 19ft to a shelf where there are traces of damaged scarps described by Warne as 'platforms with low breastworks' (C Warne, Ancient Dorset (1872), 86). There is a suggestion of quarrying on the inside but no sign of an external ditch.
The N rampart of the town 670 yards long, follows an irregular line along the scarp; there was presumably no ditch on this side, but a natural ledge is visible at the junction of the rampart and the river terrace. Where best preserved the rampart is 64ft wide, set 30ft to 40ft above the river Piddle and 12ft high above the interior. The N.E. corner is again massive with damaged scarps below it.
The E rampart of the town, 760 yards long, in four straight alignments, has an interior height of about 8ft. and a width of 60ft. The southern 120 yards have been virtually destroyed. An excavation in c.1910 revealed evidence suggestive of a stone wall within the rampart (Drew, loc.cit). A road at the foot of the scarp has largely obscured the ditch. A low broad bank, with a ditch to the E., can be traced some 20 yards E of the E rampart for three-quarters of its length (in Wareham St Martin parish). Since it is not precisely parallel to the main defences and has been almost completely levelled, and since evidence for its date is lacking, its relation to other remains is uncertain. On the N it first appears on the edge of marshy ground. The best preserved remains can be seen just N of the edge of the river terrace as a spread bank 80ft across, 2ft. high inside and still 3 1/4 feet above the ditch bottom, with a broken-down counterscarp a further 54 feet to the E.
There is no trace of defences on the S side of the town where it borders the river Frome. (RAF. VAP cpe/UK 1821: 6402-4). (2)
Excavation in the north west quarter of Wareham in 1974-75 found occupation dating from the tenth century and illustrated the development of the late Saxon burh. Medieval pits produced assemblages of pottery. A trial excavation in the south west quarter was abortive, and another in the south-east corner discovered the outer ditch of the castle (see SY 98 NW 19) (3)
SY 920876. Town Walls. Scheduled. (4)
Wareham was fortified from at least the early part of Alfred's reign and is classed as a major borough. It had been a minor mint for most issues from the reign of Athelstan, and had two moneyers in 1066. (5) |