Monument record MDO39793 - Modern slit trenches, St Catherine's Hill, Christchurch

A series of long linear ditched features are visible on St Catherine's Hill on 1940s aerial photographs. The features are roughly zig-zag in form, indicating a modern origin, probably associated with military slit trenches. The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

A series of long linear ditched features are visible on St Catherine's Hill on 1940s aerial photographs (1).

The linear ditches are narrow, between 1m and 1.5m wide and between 40m and 55m in length, not accounting for their roughly zig-zag form. This distinctive zig-zag character indicates a modern origin, probably associated with military slit trenches.

The features form part of an extensive suite of earthworks and banked and ditched features associated with probable military activity on St Catherine Hill during the early half of the 20th Century.

The features are under heathland vegetation and tree cover on a 2014 vertical aerial photograph and are not visible (2).

The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP.

<1> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RP 3271-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDO15623.

<2> GetMapping, 2014, Digital vertical aerial photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDO14101.

Record last edited

Jan 31 2018 5:25PM