Monument record MDO3574 - Dyke on Fox Ground Down, Blandford St Mary

A ditch with a low bank along its southern side, running for approximately 1000m along a low ridge. In places the earthwork has been much reduced by cultivation. At the west end, this dyke meets another which crosses the ridge. The site is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar imagery and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM.

A linear earthwork extending for about 1/2 mile in an E-W direction, with a shorter N-S extension at the W end. For the most part it consists solely of a poorly defined ditch, averaging 5.0m wide and 0.3m deep.

From A, ST 86490448 to B, ST 86480422, the earthwork has been destroyed, but S of B, and for 30.0m S of C, ST 86460391, the ditch, is still traceable in the plantations and arable ground.

From C to D, ST 87040381, the E-W ditch again averages 5.0m wide and 0.3m deep and is grass covered. There is no visible bank but this may have been destroyed by ploughing which has encroached to the tip of the ditch.

From D, ST 8705031 to E, ST 87380376 the ditch is 0.5m deep, and has a spread bank on the N side. This bank averages 2.0m wide and 0.2m high. Both bank and ditch are under grass.

The earthwork appears to be of prehistoric origin and is similar to the Late Bronze Age boundary ditch earthworks found in the E part of the county. <2>

At the W. end, the earthwork meets another length of dyke (86440386-86500448) which extends for some 700 yds. From S.-N., across the ridge and down the N. slope, towards the bottom of
the combe, S. of The Down House. Much of this dyke lies within woodland; where best preserved it comprises a scarp, 3 ft. high, falling eastwards to a shallow ditch, 4 ft. across.

The N-S dyke appears to extend further S than indicated by OS 6" RCHM. Air photographs show the probable extension curving in New Plantation towards the trackway at ST 86430377. The ploughed down section is also visible. <4>

The site is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs <5> and lidar imagery <6>, and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM. It runs for 650m in a N-S direction.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1929 (Map). SWX1540.

(ST 86880384 : ST 86470408) Dyke (NR) (Twice)

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 02-SEP-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 45 (Monograph). SDO146.

'(29) Dyke ? (86450392-8750372) is aligned W.N.W-E.S.E. for some 1200 yds. along the axis of a low ridge, S. of Fox Ground Down; it comprises a ditch, up to 20 ft. across and 3 ft. deep, with a low bank along the S. side. The earthwork survives least damaged along the N. edge of New Planation; cultivation has almost destroyed it E. of the Blandford-Dorchester road and has severely reduced it for some distance W. of this road. It probably was associated with 'Celtic' fields which lie to the N. It appears to have been used as a hollow-way and is shown as a track on O.S., 1811.

At the W. end the earthwork meets another length of dyke (86440386-86500448) which extends for some 700 ds. From S.-N., across the ridge and down the N. slope, towards the bottom of the combe, S. of The Down House. Much of this dyke lies within woodland; where best preserved it comprises a scarp, 3 ft. high, falling eastwards to a shallow ditch, 4 ft. across.'

<4> Mead, Richard, Field Investigators Comments RPM, R2 RPM 03-OCT-1979 (Unpublished document). SWX2301.

<4.1> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 1092-93 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20036.

<5> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1975 FP 1017 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19462.

<6> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 205633 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 2 2023 2:53PM