Monument record MDO3965 - Ridge and furrow, field system, Rawlsbury Farm, Hilton

An extensive area of ridge and furrow visible as earthworks, noted around Rawlsbury Farm. Areas of ridge and furrow cultivation alongside an area of possible medieval strip field to the northeast of the Farm and numerous now removed field boundaries dividing some of these areas are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery. The features cover an extensive area around Rawlsbury Farm and were probably part of an area of medieval open field. They were digitally recorded during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

ST 765054. Around Rawlsbury Farm are extensive areas of ridge and furrow, 5 yds to 7 yds wide, confined within fields which appear to have been enclosed direct from the waste. <1>

Areas of ridge and furrow cultivation alongside an area of possible medieval strip field to the northeast of the Farm and numerous now removed field boundaries dividing some of these areas are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery (CCC undated; RAF 1945; RAF 1947; EA 2018). The features cover an extensive area around Rawlsbury Farm and were probably part of an area of medieval open field. Towards the edges of Rawlsbury Camp (MDO4768), some of the field boundaries dividing the ridge and furrow might re-use part of an earlier field system, perhaps contemporary in origin to the hillfort (recorded under MDO50543). The features were digitally recorded during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 FP 1077 (Aerial Photograph). SDO21696.

Royal Air Force, 27-MAR-1945, RAF/106G/LA200 FP 1084 (Aerial Photograph). SDO21692.

Environment Agency, xx-xxx-2018, Environment Agency National Lidar Programme DTM 1M (Aerial Photograph). SDO21483.

Crawford, O G S, XX-XXX-XXXX, CCC/11752 1154 (Aerial Photograph). SDO21697.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 113, No. 29b (Monograph). SDO146.

‘(29) CULTIVATION REMAINS: (a) A three-field system existed at Hilton in the 14th century (H. L. Gray, English Field Systems, 1915, appx. II, 461) but the date of enclosure is unknown. … (b) In the N. of the parish around Rawlsbury Farm (765054) are extensive areas of ridge-and-furrow, 5 yds. to 7 yds. wide, confined within fields which appear to have been enclosed direct from the waste.’

<2> Historic England, National Record of the Historic Environment, 201793 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2026 8:41AM