| Smedmore Hill Settlement | |
| Map Type: | Dorset |
| Coordinates: | 50.6164°N -2.0942°W |
| Gbgridref: | SY 933 796 |
| Epochs: | Iron Age Romano-British |
| Designation1: | Scheduled monument |
| Designation1 Number: | 1014835 |
| Designation1 Date: | 14 January 1970 |
The Smedmore Hill Settlement is an archaeological site about south-west of Corfe Castle, in Dorset, England. The site is a settlement and an associated field system, dating from the Iron Age and Romano-British period. It is a scheduled monument, described in the list entry as "a rare and well preserved example of its class".
The site is regarded as a settlement occupied by a group of subsistence farmers during the Romano-British period. It is on the northern slope of Smedmore Hill, a limestone ridge; its total area is about, reduced slightly by ploughing at the north-east edge.[1]
It consists of a block of small enclosures of size 0.02ha0.08ha, separated by rubble-built banks of height up to, each one levelled using limestone rubble, so that the enclosures are terraced into the hillside. Around the edge of the settlement are traces of a bank, up to high, on the south, south-west and south-east; four gaps in the bank are thought to be entrances. There are inward-turning banks, perhaps to direct livestock into the settlement, by the western entrance where there is a gap wide.[1]
There is an enclosure which is perhaps a paddock, about east of the settlement; its size is about 92by. To the north and north-east of this are lynchets with widths 18to, probably used for cultivation. There was investigation in 1956 on the east side of the settlement, during construction of a water pipe trench. Finds included pottery of the Iron Age and Romano-British period, including Samian ware.[1]