Monument record MDO41064 - Post medieval gravel pit, Little Canford, Ferndown Town

A large extractive pit to the south of Little Canford is visible on 1940s aerial photographs. A smaller gravel pit bounded to the east by a former field boundary is recorded on the OS 1st Edition map. This had expanded considerably by 1946, when several pits, interlinking access roads and a number of small buildings are visible. The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

A large extractive pit to the south of Little Canford is visible on 1940s aerial photographs (1).

A smaller gravel pit is recorded in the northwest corner of the site on the OS 1st Edition map. This is bounded to the east by a former historic field boundary marked on the map by a dispersed row of trees; the southern end of this boundary was still extant and visible in 1946 (1 and 2). The quarry had expanded considerably to the south and east by 1946, when several pits, interlinking access roads and a number of small buildings are visible (1). The extent of the quarry in 1946 occupied a large historic enclosure recorded on the OS 1st Edition map (formerly at least two smaller enclosures) covering an area 263m long by 293m wide.

The site is still partially open ground on current Google Earth imagery, although with a 20th century depot now occupying the west of the site. The gravel pits are visible as large ponds, possibly partly landscaped. The other features are no longer visible. They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP.

<1> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RS 4160-1 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16010.

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

Record last edited

May 25 2018 2:16PM