Monument record MDO1416 - Settlement east of Little Bredy Farm - Hut circle

SY 59438800. A probable hut circle (see plan) with a floor 14ft across, lies beneath the end of a 'Celtic' field lynchet near Little Bredy Farm (see SY 58 NE 15 for field system). It is probably contemporary with some phase of the 'Celtic' field system. <1>

The possible site of a prehistoric hut circle 11m across and fragments of a second rectilinear enclosure are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs <2-4>. These features probably relate to a settlement associated with the Celtic field system on Crow Hill. The site was digitally plotted during theSouth Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(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.’

<2> 26-MAR-1968, NMR SY 5987/2-6 (178/97-100) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11663.

<3> 16-FEB-2005, NMR SY 5987 50-2 (23819/09-11) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11651.

<4> 01-SEP-2004, NMR SY 5987/43-5 (23707/08-10) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11650.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 450414 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 20 2024 4:33PM