Monument record MDO3575 - Dyke from Fox Ground Down towards the Down House, Blandford St Mary

A dyke crossing a low ridge. The dyke comprises a low bank and shallow ditch, around 700 feet long. On the top of the ridge it is crossed by another dyke which runs along the ridge. The site lies within a wider field system (MDO3588/MDO45814); this and another dyke (MDO3574) are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar imagery and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM. It is likely that the dyke described above is part of the same group of features.

'(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.'

The N-S orientated dyke is visible as earthworks on lidar imagery <2> and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM.

<1> 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.'

<2> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Oct 2 2023 3:16PM