Monument record MDO3329 - Iron Age/Romano-British field system, Winterbourne Abbas

An enclosed field system of probable Iron Age/Romano-British origin is visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs. It appears to have been adopted and adapted for re-use during the medieval period.

An enclosed field system of probable Iron Age/Romano-British origin is visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs. It appears to have been adopted and adapted for re-use during the medieval period. {1-9}

<1> 14-APR-1984, NMR OS/84029 243-4 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11306.

<2> 1972, DCC 212/0036 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11282.

<3> 21-SEP-1998, NMR SY 6091/7-9 (18057/05-07) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11204.

<4> 21-SEP-1998, NMR SY 6091/5 (18153/05) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11203.

<5> 23-APR-1980, NMR SY 6091/1 (1749/088) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11202.

<6> 02-APR-1969, NMR OS/69053 017-019 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11163.

<7> Royal Air Force, 22-JAN-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 3141-43 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11161.

<8> Royal Air Force, 09-MAR-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2475 4066-68 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11131.

<9> 1972, DCC 232/0116 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11117.

<10> 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 (1): Westminstone to Town Hill (SY 59 SE, 69 SW; 600920–628920; Fig. opposite). 'Celtic' fields are virtually continuous over about 900 acres, mostly Upper Chalk but with a capping of pebbly clay and sand on the main ridge top, in the S. of Frampton and Compton Valence (fn. 3) parishes and the N. of Winterbourne Abbas parish. They were formerly more extensive and have mostly been overlaid by or integrated into a later pattern of broad ridge-and-furrow some of which has, in turn, been ploughed in narrow rig. This broad ridge-and-furrow on the downland probably represents a temporary or sporadic extension of cultivation beyond the limits of the permanent arable in the mediaeval period or, possibly, later. Modern ploughing is completing the work of destruction throughout the whole group. The remains have been further disturbed by numerous small quarries and chalk pits, now disused. Two settlements in Frampton, (a) on Little Hogleaze (613922) (Plate 231) and (b) above West Hill Bottom (605928), Romano-British at least in their final phases, are contemporary with the 'Celtic' fields as is a system of tracks probably linked to the Roman road running W. from Dorchester on a line near that of the present ridgeway road.
(i) Westminstone Down (Plate 231). 'Celtic' fields, mostly overlain by broad ridge-and-furrow on the gentle slopes of the higher ground, cover 60 acres in the S.E. of Compton Valence parish. Surviving fields have sides 40 yds. to 50 yds. long and are bounded by lynchets up to 10 ft. high or by low, flinty boundary banks. A track running from the line of the Roman road towards settlement (a) apparently formed a boundary to the S.
(ii) West Hill Bottom and Little Hogleaze, at W. of Frampton parish. 'Celtic' fields of ½ to ¼ acre in size, where complete, are overlain by disturbed broad ridge-and-furrow. Tracks 4 yds. to 7 yds. wide, mostly of double-lynchet form, run into settlements (a) and (b). It is possible that the latter was developed on old fields and certainly both settlements seem to have extended on to former fields.
(iii) Town Hill and Great Hogleaze. 'Celtic' fields with lynchets up to 7 ft. high are overlain in an area of at least 60 acres by broad ridge-and-furrow. The fields often have staggered angles but an almost continuous run of lynchets from settlement (a) to 621929 suggests a boundary. Two complete 'Celtic' fields near the centre of the area measured only 25 yds. square but others, to the N., have been thrown together to form long fields. Enclosure Frampton (20) has no demonstrable link with the fields but is probably prehistoric. Curving scarps in a copse at 621927 suggest the possibility of contemporary settlement.
(iv) Eweleaze to Higher Ground. 'Celtic' fields, disturbed by later ploughing, stretched S. from Pigeon House Cottage, near which there are remains of strip lynchets, to Higher Ground where, after a wide gap with no sign of ridging, they are overlain by broad ridge-and-furrow, and at the S.E. further overlain by narrow rig. A hollow-way (?), Frampton (21), and a faint track which joins it from the S.E., as well as a continuation W. of both, apparently belong to a phase of 'Celtic' fields which end against them. The deep hollowing of the track is unusual in a 'Celtic' field system and is probably due to subsequent wear or to the utilisation of a ditch line.
(v) Winterbourne Abbas, S. of the Roman road. Fragmentary traces of 'Celtic' fields extend for about 1 mile. Around 603919 they are apparently overlain by broad ridge-and-furrow which perhaps continued S. to meet the strip lynchets of the open-field system (see Winterbourne Abbas (12)). An undated enclosure (Winterbourne Abbas (55), Fig. p. 507), was built over 'Celtic' fields, but its relationship to the ridge-and-furrow was not clear. On the N., on the approximate line of the Roman road and traceable for over a mile, is a track with a bank on the N. separating it from the modern road. It is defined on the S. by a low scarp from which 'Celtic' lynchets occasionally run. (R.A.F. V.A.P. CPE/UK 2431: 3141–3.)

Record last edited

Apr 18 2016 12:21PM