Monument record MDO41231 - Post medieval extractive pits, Canford Heath, Poole

Areas of shallow and surface post medieval extraction on Canford Heath arevisible on 1940's aerial photographs. The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

Areas of shallow and surface post medieval extraction on Canford Heath arevisible on 1940s aerial photographs (1-2).

The features comprise several variously sized irregular scarped depressions of exposed ground, with some deeper scarped hollows in places, all partly covered by scrubby vegetation in 1946 (1). The features are typically quite shallow in depth and situated along the side of a south-facing slope of ground. A road leads into the northern end of on eof the larger scarped depressions, suggesting this may still have been worked or recently worked in 1946 (2).

The features are presumed to be associated with post medieval extraction on Canford Heath ; 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. However, in places the features may alternatively be the result of erosion through the passage of vehicles or people; the area appears to have been used for wartime military training and associated activities, which may have resulted in erosion scars.

The site is partly still open heath on current Google Earth imagery although the east of the site is under modern development. The features are still visible in places on the open ground, although under low heathland scub and vegetation. They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP.

<1> Royal Air Force, 08-MAR-45, RAF/106G/LA/163 RP 3021-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16052.

<2> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RS 4204-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16063.

Record last edited

Dec 7 2021 11:07AM