Monument record MDO1717 - Lynchets on Dogbury Hill, Minterne Magna

A medieval field system consisting of a series of field lynchets on Dogbury Hill in Minterne Park consisting of parallel but irregularly spaced earthwork terraces from 1 to 2 metres high. In the west part of the area the earthworks were set in a northwest-southeast direction, but in the east the lynchets run from north-north-west to south-south-east and from north to south. The features are visible as earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar and Next Perspectives APGB imagery. They were digitally plotted during the Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

Centred at ST 66020485 Grass covered strip lynchets from 1.0m to 2.0m high, parallel, but irregularly spaced. In the west part of the area these are set in a NW-SE direction, but in the east part the lynchets run from NNW-SSE and from north to south. <2>

Two systems of strip lynchets occur between the 600ft and 750ft contours on the gentle SW slope of Dogbury Hill. At ST 66080478 three strips occupy 2.0 hectars, each terrace about 18.0m wide and separated by a lynchet 1.0m high. There is a distinct western bias to the slope and consequently the strips run in a NNE to SSW direction.

They are enclosed on the W and S by a second system of lynchets, parallel and set in a NW to SE direction but irregularly spaced. The strips vary from 15.0m to 30.0m in width with separating lynchets up to 1.5m high. They are much spread by ploughing.

A further 2.0 hectares of close-set lynchets to the N, at ST 66000499, visible on APs (a), have been completely erased by recent ploughing. <4>

The features are visible as earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar and Next Perspectives APGB imagery [6-8]. They were digitally plotted during the Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 170 (Monograph). SDO97.

'(10) LYNCHETS, on the S.W. slope of Dogbury Hill, ¼m. N. of the church, form two systems in adjoining fields'

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 19-SEP-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1962 (Map). SWX1540.

Strip Lynchets (NR)

<4> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F2 NVQ 19-OCT-76 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<4.1> Royal Air Force, 22-JAN-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 3359-60 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17417.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 198888 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<6> Royal Air Force, 22-JAN-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 RP 3358 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20726.

<7> Next Perspectives, 21-AUG-2001, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery (Aerial Photograph). SDO19893.

<8> 16-JUN-1970, NMR SY 7086/7 (Aerial Photograph). SDO10834.

Record last edited

Jul 9 2024 3:32PM