Monument record MDO1594 - Lynchets, Maiden Newton

Linear banked strip lynchets are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and on current Lidar imagery on a west facing slope above the railway line to the east of Maiden Newton. To the northeast the features are situated adjacent to, and in some places juxtaposed with, the west side of an extensive Iron Age/Romano-British field system on Fore Hill (MDO42898). The features were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Frome AIM project.

Lynchets on a west slope, to the east of the railway and Maiden Newton village (centred SY 604976), form four groups, extending for about 700 yards. <1>

(Centred SY 603976) Field systems taken from air photographs (not cited). <2>

Extending from SY 60229799 to SY 60439738 are Medieval terraced cultivation strips aligned north/south measuring 2.5m high and averaging 9.0m wide. To the north of the lane at SY 60269823 are pronounced cultivation strips of the same type, and at SY 60529730 is an isolated east to west lynchet. <3>

The cultivation terraces mentioned by Authorities 1 and 2 are clearly defined on RAF air photographs. <4>

The available OS air photograph show traces of Medieval strip lynchets in the field at SY 606967. <5>

SY 604977. Field system west of Fore Hill, comprising an extensive group of lynchets beside the railway Scheduled. <7>

Lynchets in flights of four and five as described by Authority (3) extend for 500m, centred at SY 603975, along the steep west slope of the valley, and a lesser number utilize the Langcombe Bottom, re-entrant. Extensions to the north and south of the existing system are now almost ploughed out but are traceable on APs. <8>

Linear banked strip lynchets are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and on current Lidar imagery on a west facing slope above the railway line to the east of Maiden Newton <9-10>. To the northeast the features are situated adjacent to, and in some places juxtaposed with, the west side of an extensive Iron Age/Romano-British field system on Fore Hill (MDO42898). The features were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Frome AIM project.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 153 (Monograph). SDO97.

'(19) LYNCHETS, on a W. slope, on the E. of the railway and to the E. of the village, form four groups, extending for about 700 yards.'

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 14-OCT-54 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<2.1> Atkinson, R J C, 1949, spec 6 inch (RJCA 1.3.49) (Map). SWX1583.

<3> Swatridge, G C, Various, Field Investigators Comments GCS, F2 GCS 12-JAN-55 (Unpublished document). SWX1169.

<4> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 1382 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20237.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 1969, OS 69/114 047-49 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19992.

<6> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 scale map, 1974 (Map). SDO17396.

(Centred SY 603976) Strip Lynchets (NR)

<7> Department of the Environment, 1978, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England (Vol 2), 77 (Monograph). SWX1687.

<8> Attrill, N J, Field Investigators Comments NJA, F3 NJA 04-FEB-81 (Unpublished document). SDO14743.

<9> Royal Air Force, 22-JAN-48, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 RS 4276-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16872.

<10> Environment Agency, XX-XXX-2019, LIDAR Environment Agency Composite LAST RETURN (Photograph). SDO16524.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 453028 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 30 2023 12:24PM