Monument record MDO4108 - Strip lynchets in Stepleton Park, Iwerne Stepleton

Medieval strip lynchets visible as earthworks in the grounds of Stepleton House. The lynchets are widely spaced and have an average height of 1.2 metres. Visible as earthworks. Part of the medieval open field system of the parish. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water. The features are visible as narrow linear banks on Environment Agency lidar imagery and were digitally plotted as aprt of the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

(Centred at ST 866112) An area of parkland with widely spaced grass covered strip lynchets, averaging 1.2m high. These strip lynchets are parallel, and follow the natural contours. <1>

In Stepleton Park (ST 868115, 865115, and 865112), ten medieval contour strip lynchets are arranged in three-furlong blocks, up to 300 yds long. Also in the park (ST 863114) are faint traces of almost straight ridge-and-furrow. <2>

Note: The UID 206134 on the NRHE-to-HER database related to 3 distinct areas of strip lynchets and one area of ridge and furrow in the grounds of Stepleton House. On the HBSMR database they are represented by the strip lynchets MDO4107, MDO4108 and MDO4109 and the ridge and furrow MDO4110. Therefore the record MDO4108 only relates to a single block of lynchets.

An area of narrow and near parallel lynchets are visible on Environment Agency lidar imagery (EA 2018) as linear banked earthworks to the west of Smuggler's Lane (MDO4120), a former drove road running north to south through the grounds of Stepleton House. A series of up to 6 partial rows of strip lynchets are identifiable at this location and were digitally plotted as part of the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project. Some of the lynchets continue beyond the former Smugglers Lane to the east and are recorded under MDO4107.

National Record of the Historic Environment, 206134 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

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

<1> Quinnell, N V, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 11-JAN-56 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 135 (Monograph). SDO146.

(5) Cultivation Remains. Nothing is known of the open fields of the parish although it has been suggested that there once was a two-field system, Dorset Procs., LXIX (1947), 48); about 40 acres of strip lynchets and ridge-and-furrow remain... In Stepleton Park (868115, 865115 and 865112), ten contour strip lynchets are arranged in three-furlong blocks, up to 300 yds. long. Also in thepark (863114) are faint traces of almost straight ridge-and-furrow, 6 yds. to 9 yds. wide.’

Record last edited

Nov 18 2025 11:07AM