Monument record MDO1813 - Ringstead Deserted Medieval Village, Osmington

Deserted medieval village surviving as earthworks consisting of house platforms and hollow ways. The church also survives, this was converted into a house called Glebe Cottage in the 18th century, though elements such as the chancel arch can still be seen.

There were four Ringsteads listed in Domesday Book with a total population of nineteen; each of which appear, from later evidence, to have been separate settlements bearing the names Up, Middle, East and West Ringstead. The site of Middle Ringstead is unknown but Up Ringstead may have stood where Upton House now stands. East Ringstead survived only as a field name on the Tithe Map of 1839. The settlement of West Ringstead, first recorded under that name in 1285, is marked by the remains of a church and the well-preserved deserted Medieval village earthworks, covering 10 acres, at SY 747815 to the south east of Osmington village.

The surviving earthworks are fairly well preserved; the main visible disturbances are due to a system of sluices and sharp-cut channels whereby, until quite recently, water was distributed over the already existing platforms, making a water meadow of them. The scarp blocking the hollow-way 150 yds. W.S.W. of Glebe Cottage is due to this system (all but this are omitted from the plan). The remains of houses and yards lie due S. of Glebe Cottage which incorporates all that is left of the church. They are mostly grouped in a compact block of some 2 1/2 acres. A well marked hollow-way, in places 5 ft. deep, flanks the area of the W., and there are lesser approach tracks, notable in the N.E.

The sites of four buildings are grouped around the N. part of a slightly raised area (a), about 70ft. by 110 ft., scarped at its S. end and with a rather irregular surface. They vary in size from 18 ft., by 10 ft. to 32 ft by 17 ft. Four other sites of buildings are less clear. W. of (a) are what seem to be the broken outlines of two buildings with their long axes E.- W. and a close to the S. To the E. of (a) an angular depression, possibly with an entrance in the E. side, opens on to a small close bounded on the E. by a narrow sunken track which runs up to a pair of low banks 15 ft. apart (crest to crest); these run parallel for 30 ft. but the S. bank bends inwards at the W. end where the bank of an adjoining building site forms a clear termination, while at the E. end there is a slight trace of a cross bank; breaks in the sides are not certainly original. A narrow platform, 33 yds. S. of (a), is sunk 2 ft. into the close N. of it, and immediately E. is a small roughly scooped area with a flattened floor.

The best preserved building is at (b), where banks with building stone visible suggest wall footings 2 ft. or more high enclosing an area of 55 ft. by 15 ft. A well-defined entrance on the W. side opening on to a sunken area with one faint subdivision is matched by a less clear break opposite. Two other small building sites lie S.W. of (b) at the N.W. corner of a scarped close. Separated from the main block by a section building well-marked by banks up to 2 ft. high and apparently with a cross-division and a single entrance on the S.E.

At the extreme N.E. of the site are the remains of an oblong mound 4 ft. high. The enclosures lying immediately E. and W. of the S. parts of the village are marked by low lynchets generally ill-defined. Further S. is a well, to E. of which is a circular sinking, 4 ft. across and 1 ft. deep. Plan.

SY 747817. The remains of a rubble built church with surviving fabric of seemingly 13th century date, is now known as Glebe Cottage. Only the chancel and chancel arch survive from the original building which has been considerably altered and heightened; none of the domestic features appear earlier than the 15th century. The church was largely destroyed or abandoned with the village in late Medieval times. A church probably on this site, is first referred to in 1227. Listed by Beresford as DMV of Ringstead. Well defined on Air photographs. <1-5>

The earthworks of West Ringstead are generally as described by RCHM <3>, in permanent pasture and in very good preservation. Surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. by transfer of RCHM Survey.

The church, now Glebe Cottage, (name confirmed) is as described above. <6>

The earthworks of the deserted village of Ringstead and it's associated strip field system are clearly visible on aerial photographs and were digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project <9-11>.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1956, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1954, 98 (Serial). SDO54.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred SY 747816) Ringstead (NR) (site of) (SY 74738177) Church (NR) (rems of)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 1, 180-181 (Monograph). SDO148.

<4> Deserted Medieval Villages : studies, 186 (Monograph). SWX1652.

<5> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1821 2444-45 (Aerial Photograph). SWX2452.

<6> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 21-JUL-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<7> DCMS, 1999, Scheduled Monument Notification 1999, 25-NOV-1999 (Scheduling record). SDO17351.

<8> DCMS, Scheduled Monument Notification EH Scheduled Monument Review, 14-DEC-2000 (Scheduling record). SWX2456.

<9> Royal Air Force, 16-JAN-1962, RAF 58/4878 0082-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11780.

<10> 15-MAY-1996, NMR OS/96662 8964-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11782.

<11> 15-FEB-2005, NMR SY7481/22-5 (23746/29-33) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11783.

<12> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1994, Medieval Village Research Group Index, PRN 452 (Index). SDO16386.

<13> Medieval Settlement Research Group, Medieval Village Research Group Archive - measured drawings, 620494 (Excavation archive). SDO20430.

<14> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454320 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 7 2024 3:32PM