Monument record MDO41272 - Post medieval drainage channel, Hampreston, Ferndown Town

A ditched and banked linear feature to the southwest of Hampreston is visible on 1940s aerial photographs. The feature links a probable pond and a series of drainage channels to the east of this, all recorded on the OS 1st Edition map. The feature is presumed to also be a drainage channel or leat of probable post medieval date. It was digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

A ditched and banked linear feature to the southwest of Hampreston is visible on 1940s aerial photographs (1 and 2).

The feature comprises a curvilinear ditch with a corresponding bank on its south side. It runs east from a probable pond recorded on the OS 1st Edition map to link into a series of drainage channels to the east, also recorded on the OS 1st Edition map (3). At its eastern end the feature runs along the south side of a historic field boundary whose straight regular form indicates a probable post medieval origin (3). Just before this the feature may originally have followed a further section of historic field boundary, or formed part of a field boundary itself, thereby enclosing a rectilinear area of land to the north (a section of former field boundary (MDO41277) is also visible on 1940s aerial photographs, effectively completing this enclosure (1 and 2)). The feature is cut by a later trackway (MDO41278)

The feature is presumed to be a drinage channel or leat of probable post medieval date, part of which may have dually funtioned as a field boundary, although this is not certain.

The site is still open fields on current Google Earth imagery and the feature remains faintly visible. It was digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

<1> Royal Air Force, 20-MAR-45, RAF/106G/LA/187 RP 3041-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16084.

<2> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-47, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 FP 1157-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16085.

<3> Google Earth, 2017, Google Earth 2017 (Aerial Photograph). SDO15388.

Record last edited

Oct 2 2019 3:47AM