Monument record MDO3250 - Ancient field system running from Shorn Hill to Ridge Hill, Winterborne St Martin

Celitc Field Group 6, probably later than other CFGs.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 622-634 (Monograph). SDO150.

'GROUP (6): SHORN HILL TO RIDGE HILL (SY 68 NW, NE; 631876–657869; Fig. p. 626), in Winterborne St. Martin and Portesham parishes, includes 'Celtic' fields and undated long fields. Broken remains of 'Celtic' fields cover at least 200 acres of the spurs and re-entrants N. of the Ridgeway and 20 acres immediately S. of it, about 647865. The most prominent, though very incomplete in plan and not illustrated, are at the extreme E., N. of Ridge Hill, covering 12 acres around 655868. Fragments extend N. of these on the spur top and in the valley W. of it leading to Ashton Cottages. Most are on chalk but some, S. of Shorn Hill, are on a sandy wash and pebble capping. There are only two complete fields, each of about ¼ acre, but original field sides are between 30 yds. and 60 yds. long. Lynchets are up to 8 ft. high, N. of Ridge Hill, on a maximum slope of 15°. Subsequent cultivation has flattened many former field divisions and in places has left 'Celtic' lynchets in continuous lines along the contours giving a misleading effect of strip fields, as on the S.E. side of Great Hill. A slight boundary bank and ditch, of mediaeval or later date, runs N. from a round barrow (Winterborne St. Martin (58)).

N.W. of Shorn Hill and S.W. of Great Hill are long narrow fields, apparently later than the normal 'Celtic' fields but bounded by contour lynchets or, up and down hill, by low flinty banks. In places they may have utilised the lynchets of previous fields as boundaries. Complete fields are usually 26 yds. or 37 yds. wide and from 100 yds. to 160 yds. long. On Great Hill faint traces of slight banked fields of similar type have been much disturbed by narrow rig ploughing. In proportion and form these long fields are akin to 'Celtic' long fields, elsewhere thought to be Romano-British, but some doubt arises from their extent and from the absence of a known Romano-British settlement. There are relatively recent downland fields of this form (e.g. near Stratton, around 652950), while mediaeval cultivation of the downland is attested for Winterborne Asshe (Ashton, Inquisitions post mortem, P.R.O., C. 142/216/29). By 1765 some of the enclosed strips of Winterborne St. Martin resembled in plan these long fields (cf. Isaac Taylor's map of Town Field Farm in D.C.R.O.). (R.A.F. V.A.P. CPE/UK 1934: 1063–66 and 3092–94.)'

Record last edited

Jun 3 2014 11:31AM