In SE. Dorset a section of Roman road runs from Hamworthy on Poole Harbour to Badbury Rings, passing near the present village of Corfe Mullen just before it dips into the Stour valley. It has been known for several years, from discoveries in the Southern Railway's ballast pit, that a Romano-British settlement existed at this spot. The finds comprise pottery ranging from bead-rim to New Forest wares, as well as a storage-pit containing grain, on which Sir R. H. Biffen reported to the writer in 1929 as follows: ‘The bulk is wheat similar to that from the Iron Age sites at Fovant and Meare. But grains of oat are also present.’