Monument record MDO1417 - Settlement east of Little Bredy Farm

A small hut circle settlement lies on the shoulder of a hill east of Little Bredy Farm. It is set within a Celtic field system and is probably of pre-Roman date. The site is visible on aerial photographs <2> and was digitally plotted during the South 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, 624 (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> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 3098-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11657.

<3> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 450415 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 20 2024 4:34PM