Monument record MDO2036 - Medieval cultivation remains and a prehistoric field system on Rocket Hill, Portesham

Medieval strip fields at Portesham, overlying traces of 'celtic' field. Recorded by the RCHM as extant earthworks and also visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs.

Medieval strip fields at Portesham, overlying traces of 'celtic' fields. Recorded by the RCHM as a complex of field systems, including strip fields, scarps possibly of celtic fields, a block of rectangular scarped plots, and narrow ridge-and-furrow. A curving footpath marked on OS maps appears on the ground as a hollow-way. <1>

Also visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs {2-7} and were digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project. The strip lynchets appear to be part of a larger medieval filed system extending from Portesham to Waddon, incorporating several records (MDO2036-39 & MDO2103). They have been destroyed in part due to extensive post-medieval quarrying and limekiln works along the eastern side.

Several 'stones' are marked on the modern OS map at this location, some of which appear to be visible as extant features on aerial photographs {2-3}. They are of uncertain date and function and may or may not bear any relation to this field system complex.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 2, 246 (Monograph). SDO149.

'(32) Strip Fields, including contour and up-and-down types of strip lynchets, cover 88 acres W.N.W., N.E., and E. of Portesham village. Of six groups of remains the first three are clearly connected with Portesham itself. (d) and (e) may have belonged to West Waddon and (f) certainly belonged to Little Waddon. All except group (a), partly on the chalk, are on Jurassic limestone. Treads are up to 350 yds. long and 2 yds. to 10 yds. wide, and risers up to 8 ft. high. (R.A.F. V.A.P. CPE/UK 1934 : 1063-72) … (c) On the W. part of Rocket Hill (around 607860) a complex of field remains includes, in addition to strip lynchets, scarps possibly of ‘Celtic’ fields, a block of unusual rectangular scarped plots each about 30 yds. by 7 yds. set against a slope of 22˚, and some narrow rig. A curving footpath marked on O.S. maps appears on the ground as a hollow-way with natural outcrops of limestone to the S.'

<2> Royal Air Force, 17-1-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 1067-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11909.

<3> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3299-3300 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11849.

<4> 1-2-1968, MAL 68052-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11913.

<5> 30-11-1980, MAL 3880 176-78 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11899.

<6> 12-5-2002, PGA SY6085 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11911.

<7> 12-5-2002, PGA SY6086 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11917.

<8> Cox, P W, and Chandler, J, 1996, A preliminary archaeological assessment of a proposed housing development at Front Street, Portesham, Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO12656.

The site has the appearance of being located on a major lynchet, presumably resulting from medieval arable cultivation of the rising land on the north side of the village.

<9> Valentin J, 1996, An Archaeological Evaluation of a Proposed Housing Development at Front Street, Portesham, Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO12286.

'Extensive, deep soil deposits, with a consistent depth of around 1.20m in all trenches, and therefore likely to exist across the whole site. It is probable, based on the local topography, that these deposits represent lynchet build-up, which may have been landscaped to form a broad level terrace at a later date. The artefact and stratigraphical evidence indicates a likely Medieval date for the lynchet's formation. Below this deposit was redeposited material, probably colluvium, with natural subsoil not reached in any trench.'

Record last edited

Jun 30 2020 7:39PM