Monument record MDO40976 - Possible post medieval extractive pits, Parsonage Farm, Holt

Two shallow sub-oval depressions in a field to the west of Parsonage Farm are visible on 1940s aerial photographs. The largest of the two features is recorded as a sub-oval enclosure on the OS 1st Edition map, possibly reflecting a small post medieval extractive pit, or a medieval to post medieval pond? The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

Two shallow sub-oval depressions in a field to the west of Parsonage Farm are visible on 1940s aerial photographs (1).

The largest of the two features is 26m by 24.8m and is recorded as a sub-oval enclosure on the OS 1st Edition map (2). The smaller of the two features is 19m by 12.7m. It is stuated adjacent to the southwest side of the larger feature. In 1946 this smaller feature appears to be a small pond (1).

The features may always have been separate, or may possibly have been part of a single larger features; possibly a post medieval extractive pit or maybe a medieval to post medieval pond; the field name 'The Green' on the OS 1st Edition map may indicate this was once (and may still be?) a communal space (2).

The site is still a field on current Google Earth imagery. The larger of the two features is partially visible as a shallow earthwork. The smaller of the two features is still a pond. The features 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> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

Record last edited

May 16 2018 1:05PM