Iron Age and Romano-British settlement remains on Woodcutts Common, 850m south east and 845m SSE of Arundell Cottages

Woodcutts Settlement is an archaeological site on Cranborne Chase in Dorset. It lies about 1.6 kilometres north of the hamlet of Woodcutts and 2.8 kilometres north-west of Sixpenny Handley. The site covers roughly 1.6 hectares on Woodcutts Common and is protected as a scheduled monument. Before excavation it showed a circular enclosure with a low bank and external ditch about 91 metres wide. Inside were a mound, two rectangular depressions and two circular hollows, while outside stood three smaller enclosures and two wide trackways. The site was first examined in 1863 by J. H. Austen. Augustus Pitt Rivers excavated here in 1884 and 1885, clearing the main enclosure and two outer enclosures. He rebuilt the bank using spoil from the ditch and published his findings in 1887. Christopher Hawkes later interpreted the results and recognised three phases of occupation. Early 1st-century AD features included a circular enclosure with wide entrances and internal buildings. By the late 2nd century AD three outer enclosures were added, one containing corn-drying ovens. In the early 4th century AD a new enclosure appeared with a well, a building of painted wattle walls and a further corn-drying oven. Visitors find a low earthwork marking the main enclosure on open heathland. The surrounding trackways and smaller enclosures are still faintly visible. Excavation finds such as pottery, metal tools and coins are held in Dorset Museum and Wiltshire Museum. The site offers a quiet place to walk among the remains of Iron Age and Romano-British farmsteads. Other nearby sites excavated by Pitt Rivers include Martin Down Enclosure and Wor Barrow.