Monument record MDO39647 - Post medieval or early 20th century trackway and causeway, possible medieval ford, Holdenhurst, Hurn, Christchurch

A linear bank crossing a field on the south bank of the River Stour at Holdenhurst is visible on current Lidar imagery. The banked feature may represent a trackway associated with a causeway of post medieval or later origin, possibly associated with an earlier ford. The feature was digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP.

A linear bank crossing a field on the south bank of the River Stour at Holdenhurst is visible on current Lidar imagery (1).

The bank is 15m wide and aligned southwest to northeast. It extends for approximately 176m across the field towards the river edge. On the opposite side of the river is a semi circular area of trees, which on the OS 1st Edition map is shown to be the junction between two forks of an historic trackway leading south from Hurn Court (2). The bank may represent a trackway associated with a causeway at this location, possibly of post medieval or later origin; the bank appears to overlie an area of probable post medieval gravel extraction (MDO39646), suggesting it post-dates this activity. This may be associated with a medieval or earlier fording place across the River Stour.

The linear bank shows very clearly on Google Earth imagery of 2012 (3) and is still visible under pasture on current Google Earth imagery (4). They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP.

<1> XX-XXX-2015, Environment Agency DTM Lidar 1m (Aerial Photograph). SDO15442.

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

<3> Google Earth, 01-JUN-2012, Google Earth 2012 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12633.

<4> Google Earth, 2017, Google Earth 2017 (Aerial Photograph). SDO15388.

Record last edited

Aug 29 2024 3:44PM