Monument record MDO3122 - Winterborne Rew or Orchard, deserted medieval settlement, Winterborne St Martin

Earthworks of the deserted medieval settlement known as Winterborne Rew. The OS marks the area as the site of the former village of Orchard. Also visible on aerial photographs and digitally plotted as part of the National Mapping Programme.

Settlement remains at Rew (63938945-64228915). Immediately South East of Rew Manor banked and scarped enclosures covering 5 acres stretch South East for almost 1/4 mile along the North bank of the South Winterborne. This long narrow stretch of closes (cf Winterbourne Steepleton) plausibly explains the name Rew ('row'), mentioned in the 13th century. By 1768 boundaries were much as at present and the area was part of Townfield Farm.

The closes mostly occupy a strip of meadow 180ft wide which rises rapidly from the narrow valley bottom to a shoulder on the 300ft contour some 30ft above the stream.

Nearer the Manor, however, they spread further into the mouth of a combe. The valley bottom South of the road is used as water meadows and there are remains of strip fields (SY 68 NW 59) on the hill South of this. At the West end a block of large closes, some flat, perhaps part of a manor-house complex, is separated from the other remains by a broad, funnel-mouthed and apparently contemporary hollow-way, leading North to the higher ground, formerly downland. The closes to the East, 85ft to 170ft wide, are generally bounded by substantial banks which, though still prominent, have been partly destroyed at the South end. This destruction, in which some banks may have completely gone, may account for the complete lack of any sign of houses or house platforms. <1>

SY 639894. Deserted Medieval village of Orchard. <2>

The settlement remains at Rew are generally as described by RCHM <1>. Those in the small field centred at SY 63948938 include at least three enclosures which are perhaps the sites of large buildings. Building foundations have been located in various parts of this complex. The lateral scarps of the closes in the long field centred at SY 64108925 are generally truncated at their south-west end, possibly by the canalisation of the stream and also by military occupation in World War II. Surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. <3>

These features are also visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs <6-7> and were digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 2, 393-394 (Monograph). SDO149.

‘(20) SETTLEMENT REMAINS at Rew (6393894564228915). Immediately S.E. of Rew Manor (18), banked and scarped enclosures covering 5 acres stretch S.E. for almost ¼ mile along the N. bank of the South Winterborne. This long narrow stretch of closes (cf. Winterbourne Steepleton 11) plausibly explains the name Rew ('row'), mentioned in the 13th century (Fägersten, 187; Hutchins II, 577). By 1768 boundaries were much as at present and the area was part of Townfield Farm (I. Taylor, Estate Map of Townfield Farm, photostat in D.C.R.O.).
The closes mostly occupy a strip of meadow 180 ft. wide which rises rapidly from the narrow valley bottom to a shoulder on the 300 ft. contour some 30 ft. above the stream. Nearest the Manor, however, they spread further into the mouth of a combe. The valley bottom S. of the road is used as water meadows and there are remains of strip fields (21) on the hill S. of this. At the W. end a block of large closes, some flat, perhaps part of a manor-house complex, is separated from the other remains by a broad, funnel-mouthed and apparently contemporary hollow-way, leading N. to the higher ground, formerly downland. The closes to the E., 85 ft. to 170 ft. wide, are generally bounded by substantial banks which, though still prominent, have been partly destroyed at the S. end. This destruction, in which some banks may have completely gone, may account for the complete lack of any sign of houses or house platforms. (R.A.F. V.A.P. CPE/UK 1934: 3093.)’

<2> Beresford, M, and Hurst, J G, 1971, Deserted Medieval Villages, 186 (Monograph). SWX1568.

<3> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 15-APR-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1990, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1989, 112 (Serial). SDO89.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1994, Medieval Village Research Group Index, PRN 449 (Index). SDO16386.

<6> Royal Air Force, 17-1-47, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 3091-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11887.

<7> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 4275-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11888.

<8> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<9> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 883811 (Index). SDO14738.

RCHME: Rew DMV, Winterborne St Martin, Dorset. Transcribed from 6" map. Pencil and crayon.

<10> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 883969 (Index). SDO14738.

RCHME: Rew DMV, Winterborne St Martin, Dorset. Transcribed from 6" map. Pencil and crayon.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452520 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 26 2023 1:42PM