Monument record MDO40945 - Possible medieval farmstead, Parsonage Farm, Holt

Ditched and banked earthworks in a field to the south of Parsonage Farm are visible on 1940s aerial photographs. The features may be those of historic field boundaries of possible medieval origin, perhaps incorporating a former pond. Alternatively they may be earthworks associated with a small farmstead of medieval to post medieval date. The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

Ditched and banked earthworks in a field to the south of Parsonage Farm are visible on 1940s aerial photographs (1).

The features comprise a long ditched curvilinear that sub-divides a narrow irregular historic enclosure recorded on the OS 1st Edition map and whose boundaries are likely to be predominantly medieval in origin (2). This linear feature branches off at a right angle to the west at its northeast end to form a small square enclosure with a sligtly raised internal bank. To the northwest of this enclosure is a further small enclosure formed by a low scarp along its south and west sides, within which is a sub-circular feature that may be a former pond (1).

The features may be those of historic field boundaries of possible medieval origin, perhaps incorporating a former pond. Alternatively they may be earthworks associated with a small farmstead of medieval to post medieval date.

The site is still fields on current Google Earth imagery;some features are faintly visible in 2005 (3). They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

<1> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 3105-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDO15948.

<2> Google Earth, 2002, Google Earth imagery (Aerial Photograph). SDO15980.

<3> Google Earth, XX-XXX-2005, EARTH.GOOGLE.COM (Aerial Photograph). SDO12698.

Record last edited

May 15 2018 12:28PM