Monument record MDO1501 - Deer park, Long Bredy

Traces of the park pale associated with the medieval deer park of the manor of Litton are visible as low earthworks on aerial photographs. Known to have been extant in 1253.

(SY 55508874 to SY 55918854). "Broad causeway, probably flattened park bank." <1>

A park pale which forms an irregular enclosure, indeterminate on the north, but on the south west, south and west sides is a bank 6 to 8 yards wide with an internal ditch. <2>

This mutilated park pale is definable on two sides, a south or south west side and a west side. In each case it is paralleled by a modern field bank. On the east the pale is within the coppice. The park pale consists from 'A' to 'B' of a bank 8.5m wide, 0.2m high on the south side and 0.7m high on the north side. In this section there are poor unsurveyable traces of an inner ditch. From 'B' to 'C'the bank averages 7.0m wide, and is 0.6m high on north and south sides. On the north is a ditch 3.0m wide and 0.4m deep. From 'C' to 'D' the bank had no inner ditch and is similar to section 'A' to 'B'. The park pale is grass covered throughout these sections. From 'A' to'E' a bank similar to section 'A' to 'B' runs within the wood. It has ditches on either side which soon develop into modern flood drains emptying into the stream on the north east. There is no other evidence of the earthwork, but the name of Park's Dairy House may be significant. <3>

The medieval deer park of the manor of Litton appears to have been in existence by 1253 <6> but there seems to be no record of it after 1322 <5>. Cantor and Wilson <5>, with detailed description, write that about two thirds of the probable park pale is clearly preserved, but later Bailey <6> says that the bank is well preserved within Long Coppice and can be traced to the road near Ash Bed, but has been destroyed by cultivation elsewhere.

Traces of the park pale associated with the medieval deer park of the manor of Litton are visible as low earthworks on aerial photographs. The earthwork bank runs to the east of Park's Lane from just south of Rowden Bridge to Park's Dairy Cottages. A second stretch of bank runs south-eastwards towards Long Coppice. The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project. <7-9>

<1> Crawford, O G S, Annotated record map 6 inch (Map). SWX7265.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 41 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(7) PARK PALE, on the W. side of the parish about 1 m. S.W. of the church, forms an irregular enclosure, indeterminate on the N. The S.W., S. and W. sides are enclosed by a bank about 6 to 8 yards wide with an internal ditch.’

<3> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 12-APR-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1963, Monuments Threatened or Destroyed. A Select List: 1956-1962, 15 (Monograph). SDO12558.

‘LONG BREDY.
ASHLEY CHASE [SY 560878]
Medieval park pale (R.C.H.M., West Dorset, Long Bredy, Monument 7).’

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1965, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1964, 174-177 (Serial). SDO64.

<6> Bailey, C J, 1982, The Bride Valley : the story of the past, with photographs of the present, 43 map (Monograph). SWX1298.

<7> 21-APR-2006, LiDAR D0060478 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11666.

<8> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3306-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11665.

<9> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 4288-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11468.

<10> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/088 RCHME Inventory: Dorset I (West) and Revision (Unpublished document). SDO17367.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 450252 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 11 2023 4:55PM