Monument record MDO39496 - Post medieval or modern enclosure, East Parley Common, Hurn, Christchurch

A small post medieval or modern enclosure, flanking enclosure bank and access trackway on East Parley Common are visible on 1940s aerial photographs and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Stour NMP.

A small post medieval or modern enclosure, flanking enclosure bank and access trackway on East Parley Common are visible on 1940s aerial photographs (1).

The enclosure measures 18m by 28m, with a possible entrance on its northeast side. A right-angled section of enclosure bank, 44m long on its north side by 35m on its east side, flanks this to the northeast. A short ditched trackway access the enclosure on its south side, leading off from a historic trackway shown on the 1st Edition map (2). A longer trackway links with this from the southeast.

The enclosure and adjacent enclosure bank are considered most likely to be modern and associated with wider wartime military activity on the heathland north of Christchurch. They may be associated with a possible military camp to the northeast (MDO39500). Alternatively these features may be associated with post medieval agricultural enclosure.

The enclosure, adjacent bank and trackways were sited on open heathland in 1946. They are still visible under scrub by 1957 (3) and as low or levelled earthworks crossed by a later trackway by 1988 (4). The features are no longer distinct on current Google Earth imagery.

The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP.

<1> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RS 4168 (Aerial Photograph). SDO15448.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 18-SEP-57, OS/57R1 V 159 (Aerial Photograph). SDO15459.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 03-AUG-88, OS/88209 V 295 (Aerial Photograph). SDO15460.

Record last edited

Sep 28 2017 11:14AM