Prehistoric Features

Below : Annotated map showing main features

The Nine Stones Stone Circle

The Nine Stones is a small (very slightly ellipical) stone circle about 750m west of the village itself. It can be reached on foot via a footpath on the south side of the A35 which starts at the Dorchester Collection car sales site. Parking on the busy A35 is not really possible and visitors are urged to use the above footpath to access the site. There is now no footbridge access across the stream ditch from the road.

Location : OS grid ref : SY 610 904. It was originally scheduled in August 1916 and this was updated in May 1995. The EH Legacy ID : 22923.

The sarson stone circle which dates from 2200-1400BC was first recorded in the C18th by antiquarians John Aubrey, William Stukeley and Rev Hutchins - all described it much as it is today. It is approximately 8 metres in internal diameter with the stones about 0.5m to 1.5m in width and 0.45m to 1.5m in height. They may have originally been taller as the ground appears to have built up over time. The two largest stones of about 1.5m x 1.5m are in the north and west side. A 3 metre wide gap on the north (road) side may have been an entrance with the other stones spaced approximately at 1 metre intervals.

The siting of the stone circle is unusual as it is in a valley and by a winter stream rather than on a ridge or hilltop although it is said to still have some astronomical alignments. It is in the shade of a large Beech tree that perhaps adds a certain atmospheric feeling to the site. The proximity of the busy A35 unfortunately dilutes some of this !

There are many petrification legends associated with stone circles in Britian. Such a legend says that the Nine Stones represents the Devil, his wife and their seven children turned to stone. Alternative folklore says that the Devil owned the stones or that they represent children turned to stone for playing the game of five stones on the Sabbath or maidens suffering a similar fate for dancing on the Sabbath. In modern times, there have been failures of car engines and their electrical systems near the stones ! The stones have also been known as the Nine Ladies, Devil's Nine Stones and even as "Lady Williams and her Dog" - alluding to the Williams family of nearby Littlebredy. (Photos RC 2/2021)

Valley of the Stones

Poor Lot

Poor Lot (SY 589 907) is a barrow cemetery about 3km ( 1.9 miles) west of the village and is divided by the modern A35 trunk road.

The group that dates from the late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, has some 22 bowl barrows, 7 bell, 6 disc, 4 pond, 2 bell-disc, 2 triple. The largest bowl barrow is about 36 metres in diameter and 3.6 metres high. A disc barrow just to the west of this is 32 metres in diameter. To the north of the A35, three "conjoined" bowl and a disc type can be seen. Many have been damaged by past excavation and no recordings made of any finds. Full details can be seen in RCHM Vol II Pt 3 p460/2.

The Broad Stone

Above left : This little known and almost lost stone is now lying flush with the grass verge on the south side of the A35 trunk road to the west of the village. The visible face of the stone is about 1.2m x 2.7m. It was seen by John Aubrey in 1687 when it was still standing. Location grid ref : SY 595 904.

Above right : The photograph on the right (from RCHM Vol II Pt 3 p489 - pub 1970) - described as a large sarsen boulder half buried in scarp falling from south verge of A35. (Dimensions : 9x4x2 feet). No doubt, in the interests of road safety and being near a bend on this trunk road, the stone has been "buried" when the verge was levelled up to the height of the road at some point since 1970.

Strip Lynchets

The most obvious Strip Lynchets are to the east of Coombe Road in neighbouring Steepleton parish - these are very visible when descending on the A35 down into Abbas travelling west from Dorchester. In Abbas there are two remaining lynchets (OS Grid Ref 6066 9088 & 60639 9111) about 3/4 mile north west of the church (on private land - no access). The sloping treads (flat areas dug into slope) are about 6 yards and 4 yards wide respectively and 230 yards long. The risers are up to 9 feet high. The area was enclosed as meadow by 1840 (Tithe Map).

Cross Dyke

This cross dyke is aligned north east - south west and is located on the upper north facing slope of Black Down about 600m north of Pitcombe farm in the south west corner of the parish. In 1955 when recorded and listed by RCHM, it consisted of a bank about 8m wide, 90m long and was about 1m above ground level. A quarry ditch where the material had been dug to form the bank was to the west being 600mm deep and 4m long. Unfortunately, the bank has now been partially levelled and the ditch filled in. Only a southern portion of the bank exists about 8m wide, 12m long and now only 0.5m high.

(OS Grid Ref : SY 583 902; EH Legacy ID : 22934 Scheduled 1957 - last amended by English Heritage in July 1998)

The National Grid's VIP

(Visual Impact Project) to remove some 8km (5 miles) of electric pylons from Kingston Russell through Winterbourne Abbas & Steepleton, over the Ridgeway to Friar Waddon started in 2019. Many archaeologists have worked on the massive since 2018 and below is a brief summary (March 2021) of finds to date :