Monument record MDO41217 - Possible post medieval extractive pits, Canford Heath, Poole

An area of shallow surface post medieval extraction on Canford Heath is visible on 1940s aerial photographs. The features may be post medieval extractive pits but some smaller sub-circular pits within the area may alternatively be modern military in origin. The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

An area of shallow surface post medieval extraction on Canford Heath is visible on 1940s aerial photographs (1).

The feature comprises an area of shallow extraction up to 246m long by up to 94.8m wide along the crest and top of a low slope of ground. The features are only faintly visible under vegetation in 1946, suggesting disuse by this time. Within the area there are also loose clusters osf small sub-circular pits similar to other groupings to the west (MDO41216). It is possible that these are also associated with post medieval extraction; the heathland on which the features are situated in 1946 (part of Canford Heath) is typically scarred by widescale post medieval extraction, which is characteristically shallow but with some areas of deeper extraction also present. Alternatively these smaller sub-circular pits may be modern military in origin, possibly weapons pits associated with a wartime training site.

The site is still open heath but under scrubby vegetation on current Google Earth imagery. The features are no longer visible. They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP.

<2> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RS 4201-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16056.

Record last edited

Jan 6 2020 10:42AM