Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 95 (2002), pp. 116-24 



The 1963 Excavations at Erlestoke Detention 

 Centre 



by A.M. Foster 1 and D. Roddham 2 



with contributions by Paul Robinson 3 and Robert Hopkins 4 



Small-scale excavations at Erlestoke Detention Centre (now H.M. Prison) by Denis Grant King in 1963 

 recovered a quantity of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Romano-British pottery and small finds. Four inhumation 

 burials were also excavated. Grant King did not complete a final report on this material which is now in the 

 Wiltshire Heritage Museum, Devizes. His excavations and finds are summarised below; they indicate a 

 small cemetery of probable Roman date, and a midden area. Any associated settlement was not found. 



INTRODUCTION 



In September 1963, following the discovery of a 

 number of Romano-British sherds in the grounds 

 of Erlestoke Detention Centre (ST 96975391), now 

 H.M. Prison, Erlestoke, Denis Grant King was 

 invited to undertake a small-scale examination of 

 the area over one week. No final report was prepared 

 and the pottery, small finds, and excavation 

 notebooks were deposited in what is now the 

 Wiltshire Heritage Museum, Devizes after Grant 

 PCing's death in 1994. A detailed account of the 

 excavation, including a list of small finds, is 

 deposited with the archaeological archive at the 

 Museum. The following is a summary of that report. 



BACKGROUND 



The Detention Centre lies within the grounds of 

 the former Manor of Erlestoke in an area of upper 

 greensand overlying gault clay to the north. To the 

 south is the chalk of Salisbury Plain. Grant King 

 reported 'light brown soil' to a depth of between 

 0.46-0. 76m on the site. 



Despite extensive tree planting in the 1780s and 

 the demolition and replacement of the old Manor 



House between 1786 and 1791, little of 

 archaeological interest had been reported in the area 

 prior to 1963 and nothing on the site itself. 

 Subsequently, in 1982/83, a Romano-British 

 settlement was reported at Brounker's Court and 

 White Gates Farms approximately 1 km to the west 

 of the Detention Centre (Anon 1982, 160). The 

 former has yielded a collection of early 3rd-late 4th 

 century coins as well as fibulae of Langton Down 

 and Hod Hill type. At White Gates Farm a lion's 

 head mount of mid 1st century AD and 3rd and 

 4th century coins have been found. Both sites 

 produced Romano-British potsherds. 



THE EXCAVATIONS 



Using the enthusiastic but untrained young inmates 

 as his labour force, Grant King excavated a series 

 of small cuttings in an area of the Centre he called 

 the 'North Front' (Fig. 1, Area A). This area had 

 been much disturbed by previous digging (not 

 excavation) by the prisoners. Consequently, the 

 majority of finds from this area are unstratified. 

 Grant King also examined a small area 

 approximately 66m to the south of those cuttings 

 which he called the 'Southwest' (Fig. 1, Area B). 



' Springfield, Bath Road, Devizes, SN10 1PH - 67a Hill Corner Road, Chippenham SN15 1DR 

 Devizes, SN10 INS ' 19 Rawlings Road, Llandybie, Ammanford SA18 3YD 



'The Museum, 41 Long Street, 



