Monument record MDO1406 - Prehistoric field system in the Valley of the Stones, Littlebredy

An extensive prehistoric field system, particularly well preserved in the Valley of Stones, where the field boundaries are visible as large earthworks on the valley sides.

'Group (3): Little Bredy [Footnote: Little Bredy is in the area covered by Dorset I] and Winterbourne Steepleton (SY 58 NE, 68 NW; 595872–613893; Fig. opposite, Plate 232). 'Celtic' field remains, some very well preserved, cover about 450 acres between Little Bredy Farm, Black Down Barn, Sheep Down and Loscombe. Similar remains continue W. and S.W., and probably a further 100 acres of remains have been destroyed within the area. Strip lynchets run into the 'Celtic' fields from W. and N.E. while broad ridge-andfurrow, partly defaced by later narrow rig, crosses them at the extreme W. just off the plan.
The geology is complex. Much of the area is Upper Chalk but the Valley of Stones, named after a spread of sarsens, is partly covered by Clay-with-Flints and Bagshot Beds while the high ground of Black Down bears red sandy clay with cobbles. N. of this a mixture of gravels and sands is interspersed with patches of chalk. With the exception of Black Down and the Valley of Stones most of the area is arable.
The long axes of the 'Celtic' fields run predominantly N.W. to S.E., partly because they were laid out up and down the slopes of the valleys which here generally run S.W. to N.E. The fields lay across hilltops, valley bottoms and slopes on all aspects. Despite the abundance of sarsens no field sides are visibly marked by them but some lynchets probably incorporate walls for marking out fields. Occasionally field sides running up and down slopes are marked by low banks.
The following monuments are apparently contemporary with some phase of the 'Celtic' fields: Winterbourne Steepleton (64) settlement, (66) dyke; Little Bredy (6) enclosure, (7a, b) sarsen-walled enclosures; also hut circle (a) and settlement (b). Platforms (e, f) are of uncertain date. Enclosures Little Bredy (5a, b) and Winterbourne Steepleton (63) are almost certainly later than the 'Celtic' fields. The long barrow Winterbourne Steepleton (13) and round barrow (15) were incorporated into the pattern of fields but not ploughed over in antiquity. Round barrows are, however, mostly grouped in areas apparently never cultivated as 'Celtic' fields, as on Sheep Down and S. of settlement Winterbourne Steepleton (64). The round barrows in square enclosures, Winterbourne Steepleton (24–6), are arguably later than the early 'Celtic' fields.
(i) Little Bredy Farm. S. of the farm, near the W. end of the Group, a complex of slight ditched banks, probably relatively recent, cuts across 'Celtic' field lynchets. A probable hut circle (a) with a floor 14 ft. across lies beneath the end of a 'Celtic' field lynchet at 59438800. Further slight banks, again comparatively recent, divide the hilltop and overlie 'Celtic' field remains on the spur top N. of the farm. Four earthen circles here (Little Bredy (15), see Dorset I) are almost certainly of recent origin, possibly the remains of landscaping associated with Bride Head to the N. On the shoulder of the hill ¼ mile E. of Little Bredy Farm at 59758820 is a small settlement (b), probably pre-Roman, comprising four or five hut circles set immediately below well-developed lynchets at the edge of largely destroyed 'Celtic' fields. Strip lynchets occur N., W. and E. of the farm indicating the former extent of the open fields of Little Bredy.
(ii) Crow Hill and the Valley of Stones (Little Bredy (17)). On the E. shoulder of the heavily ploughed summit of Crow Hill are two possible hut platforms (c) and (d), the latter set into the top of a 'Celtic' field lynchet. The large valley-bottom enclosure Little Bredy (5a) was apparently built over 'Celtic' field remains, already reploughed. Enclosure (5b), also on the valley floor, may be connected with two unusual long narrow plots set within 'Celtic' field boundaries above it. Immediately W. a flat floor, 18 ft. square with a gap towards (5b), has been cut into the face of a lynchet.
In the Valley of Stones at least seventeen complete 'Celtic' fields may be traced, ranging in area from ½ acre to 1¼ acres. Five are nearly square and eight are about twice as long as they are broad. Nine fields have sides about 50 yds. long, the remainder vary from 33 yds. to 125 yds. The fields are rarely found on slopes of more than about 10° and are bounded mostly by lynchets, up to 12 ft. high, but occasionally by low banks. At the foot of the W. side of the valley is a band of sarsens, the product of clearance, against which lynchets have formed.
A D-shaped, sarsen-walled enclosure (Little Bredy (7a)), in the valley bottom, possibly the site of a dwelling or of a pound, was apparently built at the edge of a small 'Celtic' field which continued in cultivation. A short distance to the S.W. is a triangular platform (e), 38 ft. by 30 ft., at the angle of a 'Celtic' field, while to the N.E. is a rectangular platform (f), about 42 ft. by 30 ft. On the valley floor 530 yds. N.N.E. of (7a) is a much smaller and less well-marked sarsen enclosure (7b).
(iii) Black Down. The ground above 600 ft. was apparently not much ploughed in the 'Celtic' field phase, but is greatly disturbed. At (g) a bank appears to run N.N.E. among deepcut hollow-ways while a slighter bank runs N.W. at right angles to it. 100 yds. farther S. a terrace-way runs approximately N. to S. for 150 yds. above well-developed 'Celtic' fields. On the N. edge of Black Down a dyke (Winterbourne Steepleton (66)) runs W. across the parish boundary with Little Bredy into the head of a small combe where it turns S. and ends abruptly below a field angle. Several shallow scoops (h) on the slope N.W. of this recall those at the Iron Age settlement on Knowle Hill (see Settlements, Church Knowle (54)). 'Celtic' fields run up to the dyke on the N. side and an enclosure (Little Bredy (6)) is attached to it.
(iv) Sheep Down and Cowleaze. The slight bank (j) with a ditch on the S., running N.W. for some 450 yds. across Sheep Down, was possibly an original boundary between 'Celtic' fields and the unploughed area containing barrows. Cowleaze was mostly covered with 'Celtic' fields, later overlaid by recent banks forming enclosures, and by strip fields. The latest phase of ploughing has often formed secondary lynchet lines under the 'Celtic' field boundaries giving a false impression of double-lynchet tracks. Some of the better preserved fields lie on the E. slopes of the narrow combe running S.W. from Loscombe Plantation. (R.A.F. V.A.P. CPE/UK 1934: 1069–71, 3095–100.)'

Lovell, J, 1997, Southern Electric 11kv Cable Replacement, Big Wood/Valley of the Stones, Dorchester, Dorset. Archaeological Watching Brief (Unpublished document). SDO14152.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 39 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(17) FIELD-SYSTEMS in the neighbourhood of Crow Hill. There are considerable remains of cultivation of the Celtic type in the S. part of the parish. These are marked on two sides of the Valley of Stones, at the head of the re-entrant on the N. of Crow Hill, on the W. of New Barton Farm and to the S. and S.W. of Heart Coppice.’

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1989, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1988, 144 (Serial). SDO88.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 624-5 (Monograph). SDO150.

<4> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR684 (Index). SDO12304.

Record last edited

Nov 4 2019 9:36AM