Monument record MDO39630 - Probable medieval strip field system, Berry Hill, Bournemouth

Banked and ditched field boundaries in fields to the northwest of Berry Hill, Bournemouth, are visible on 1940s aerial photographs. The features may fossilise part of a medieval strip field system and were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP.

Banked and ditched field boundaries in fields to the northwest of Berry Hill, Bournemouth, are visible on 1940s aerial photographs (1).

The boundaries vary between rectilinear and slightly curvilinear in form and are interspersed between similar boundaries shown on the OS 1st Edition map, many of which are still extant (2 and 3). The form and alignment of the boundaries indicate a field system of probable medieval origin,likely fossilising medieval strip fields within a larger area of medieval open field.

Many of the boundaries are still visble as earthworks and cropmarks on current Google Earth imagery, except for those underlying a late 20th century sewage treatment plant (3). The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP.

<1> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RP 3213-4 (Aerial Photograph). SDO15523.

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

<3> Google Earth, 2017, Google Earth 2017 (Aerial Photograph). SDO15388.

Record last edited

Oct 11 2017 1:26PM