Monument record MDO1693 - Dyke at Nettlecombe Farm, Melcombe Horsey

A series of linear banks are visible as earthworks on lidar imagery in the vicinity of Highdon House, Melcombe Horsey; some are marked on the OS 1st edition map. The features may be field boundaries of prehistoric date or later date and were digitally recorded during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM.

A series of linear banks are visible as earthworks on lidar imagery in the vicinity of Highdon House, Melcombe Horsey; some are marked on the OS 1st edition map. The features may be field boundaries of prehistoric date or later date and were digitally recorded during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM (Environment Agency 2021).

Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 175 (Monograph). SDO136.

'(17) Dyke (74330165–74720160), lies on ground falling gently S. at the S. end of Hog Hill. The dyke is almost certainly built on the line of 'Celtic' field lynchets and this probably explains its two stretches, set almost at right angles to one another. From a point about 80 yds. S. of the settlement (II), the dyke runs S.E. for 270 yds. and then turns N.E. for a further 200 yds. The ditch, which lies on the uphill side, is 18 ft. across; the bank is 24 ft. across, 5 ft. high above the ditch and nearly 7 ft. high on the downhill side. At each end the dyke terminates at a valley-head. The N.W. end has been destroyed by a quarry but the line is roughly marked by a lynchet 7½ ft. high.'

Tatler, S and Bellamy, P, 2008, Highdon House, Melcombe Horsey, Dorset. Archaeological Observations and Recording (Unpublished document). SDO10646.

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 2011, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 2010, 158 (Serial). SDO14017.

Cornwall Archaeological Unit, Cornwall Council, 2026, 2026 AIM Mid Dorset Downs HE9550 (Machine readable data file). SDO21762.

Record last edited

Jun 4 2026 12:10PM