LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
Scroll left/right to view further images.
HER: Dorset MDO6069 (None)
NMR: ST 91 SE 14 (209757)
SM: 1002455
NGR: ST99501940
X: 399576 Y: 119480 (OSGB36)
Univallate hillslope fort located on moderate SW-facing hillslope on S slope of spur, within area of Clay-with-flints, within sinuous E-W Mistleberry Wood, with cultivated fields to N and S. Overlooked by higher ground to NE. Described by RCHME (1975) as unfinished. At present encloses c. 0.8 ha, but if indeed unfinished, if completed would have been an oval of c. 2ha. Bank with external ditch, with no earthworks on SW side. Elsewhere, where best, bank c. 7m across and 1.2m high with ditch c. 7m wide and 1.2m deep. On NW bank gets gradually lower and ditch becomes series of shallow pits. In effect, the site appears more or less finished on E side, with an original entrance on SE in evidence. Site probably identified with 'Mealeburg', which occurs in a charter of 956 relating to Handley. Site obscured by dense trees and scrub. On 1st Ed. OS map (1888). Minimal investigations, undated.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -223466 Y: 6616815 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.0074322457599947 Latitude: 50.97467211499971 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England; None
Current County or Unitary Authority: Dorset; Wiltshire
Historic County: Dorset
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Sixpenny Handley
Condition not determined. Site obscured by dense trees and scrub. On Heritage at Risk Register (2015).
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Within sinuous E-W Mistleberry Wood, with cultivated fields to N and S.
| Woodland | ✓ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✗ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✓ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Sited between 145 and 152m O.D.
| Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Partial Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort | ✗ |
| Hillslope Fort | ✓ |
| Level Terrain Fort | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort | ✗ |
| Hilltop | ✗ |
| Coastal Promontory | ✗ |
| Inland Promontory | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop | ✗ |
| Ridge | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp | ✗ |
| Hillslope | ✓ |
| Lowland | ✗ |
| Spur | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: Hillslope
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✓ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: 152.0m
Boundary Type: County
None.
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
Site probably Mealeburg, mentioned in a charter of 956 AD. On 1st Ed. OS map (1888).
| 1st Identified Written Reference (956): | Probably 'Mealeburg', mentioned in medieval charter. |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1888): | OS map. |
None.
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Features | ✓ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Excavation | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Geophysics | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Finds | ✓ |
| Pottery | ✗ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| APs Not Checked | ✓ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
SE entrance.
| 1: | Major breaks around circuit as result of probable unfinished nature of site. |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South east): | None |
Defences now bank with external ditch, with no earthworks on SW side. Elsewhere, where best, bank c. 7m across and 1.2m high with ditch c. 7m wide and 1.2m deep. On NW bank gets gradually lower and ditch becomes series of shallow pits. In effect, the site appears more or less finished on E side.
| Area 1: | 0.8ha. |
| Total: | 0.8ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | At present encloses c. 0.8 ha, but if completed would have been an oval of c. 2ha. |
| ✗ | Bank gets gradually lower on NW. |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Possibly unfinished.
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✓ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Rubble | ✗ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Murus Duplex | ✗ |
| Timber-framed | ✗ |
| Timber-laced | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | Ditch becomes series of pits on NW. |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Gale, J. 2003. Prehistoric Dorset, Stroud: Tempus Publishing.
Grundy, G.B. 1936. Saxon Charters of Dorset (continued), Proc Dorset Natur Hist Archaeol Soc, 58,103-136 (118).
RCHME 1975. An inventory of historical monuments in the County of Dorset, Vol 5 : east Dorset, 70, London: RCHME.
Atlas of Hillforts:
Wikidata:
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
Document Version 1.1