Monument record MDO1925 - Medieval strip lynchets, Kiddle's Bottom, Piddletrenthide

Medieval strip lynchets in the form of earthwork terraces. Part of the medieval open field system of Piddletrenthide. This block of lynchets was part of North Field and had been enclosed by 1817. An area of medieval strip lynchets at Kiddle's Bottom are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

On the north side of Kiddle's Bottom, centred at ST 698005, are some 10 acres of contour strip-lynchets. <2>

Two areas of medieval strip lynchets, centred at ST 699004. <3>

'B' centred ST 699008. Six lynchets, 0.3m high, 10.0 to 15.0m apart, up to 100.0m in length on a gentle north-east facing pasture slope. There are traces of ploughed down lynchets above the north-facing slopes of Kiddle's Bottom, centred at ST 698003. <4>

An area of medieval strip lynchets at Kiddle's Bottom are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project. <6, 7, 8>

<1> Royal Air Force, 11-04-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 2371-72, 2371-72 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17385.

<2> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 219 (Monograph). SDO136.

‘(40) CULTIVATION REMAINS. Each of the three former tithings of Piddletrenthide had its own open-field system; they were finally enclosed in 1817 (Map and Award, D.C.R.O.). Strip fields of the former open fields of Higher Tithing remain in four places. On a N.W.-facing slope (700006), some 250 yds. W. of (1), five contour strip lynchets were probably once part of the North Field (Enclosure Map 1817, D.C.R.O.).’

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 Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, 12-FEB-55 (Unpublished document).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

<4> Phillips, A S, Various, Field Investigators Comments ASP, F1 ASP 15-JUL-77 (Unpublished document). SWX3817.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 199088 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<6> Royal Air Force, 11-04-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 2371-72 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17385.

<7> National Monuments Record, 07-AUG-1995, NMR 15346/01 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20857.

<8> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Oct 20 2024 7:51PM