Monument record MDO41130 - Possible medieval ridge and furrow, Canford Heath, Poole

An area of ridged and ditched cultivation marks on the north side of Canford Heath is visible on 1940s aerial photographs and current Lidar imagery. The features may be those of medieval ridge and furrow, although a later origin is also possible. They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

An area of ridged and ditched cultivation marks on the north side of Canford Heath is visible on 1940s aerial photographs and current Lidar imagery (1 and 2).

The feature somprise parallel ridges set around 6m apart at the northern end of the area, narrowing to around 3m apart at the southern end. The ditches in between are around 1.4m wide.

The features may be those of medieval ridge and furrow, although a later origin is also possible. The features are still visble on current Lidar imagery; the extent of the cultivation appears to be larger than is visible in 1946, possibly due to vegetation cover obscuring fainter detail (1).

The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP.

<1> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RP 3202-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16015.

<2> XX-XXX-2015, Environment Agency DTM Lidar 1m (Aerial Photograph). SDO15442.

Record last edited

Jan 6 2020 11:04AM