Monument record MDO30451 - Post medieval water meadows, Athelhampton and Burleston

An extensive system of post medieval water meadows is visible as partial earthworks on recent lidar imagery and as earthworks on aerial photographs of the 1940s and 1970s, immediately to the north of Athelhampton and west of Burleston.

The earthwork remains of a Medieval/Post-Medieval Water Meadow are visible centred at approximately SY 7713 9439 on aerial photographs. The ditches can be seen following a series of drains (known as carriers) leading from the River Piddle in the west at approximately SY 7631 9456. The water meadows continue south-eastwards, south of the deserted medieval village of Bardolfeston and curve around the village of Athelhampton, before being cut by the Athelhampton Road. The remains are visible to approximately SY 7771 9404, but the current aerial photographs do not extend further east past this point so it is uncertain how much further the water meadows continue. These features are visible on aerial photographs taken by English Heritage in 2007 as part of the Reconnaissance Recording Programme. <1>

1A extensive system of post medieval water meadows is visible as partial earthworks on recent lidar imagery and as earthworks on aerial photographs of the 1940s and 1970s, immediately to the north of Athelhampton and west of Burleston. The earthworks can be seen over an area measuring approximately 630 m by 570 m. The water meadows continue to the north (see MDO30452) and east (see MDO30453). <2-4> The features were digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> National Monuments Record, 23-JAN-2007, NMR SY 7794/18 NMR 24521/40 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20175.

<2> Royal Air Force, 20-MAR-1945, RAF 106G/LA187 4028-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13278.

<3> Royal Air Force, 27-OCT-1971, RAF 39/3817 0063-4 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13279.

<4> Environment Agency, 2010, Lidar DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO13148.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1506850 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 27 2023 11:56AM