Monument record MDO41294 - Historic field boundaries, Stapehill Road, Ferndown Town

Ditched and banked linear features on the east side of Stapehill Road are visible on 1940s aerial photographs. The features are presumed to be historic field boundaries of possible post medieval date, although an earlier origin is also possible. They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

Ditched and banked linear features on the east side of Stapehill Road are visible on 1940s aerial photographs (1 and 2).

The features are predominantly narrow and rectilinear in form and they sub-divide small irregular historic enclosures recorded on the OS 1st Edition map, whose slightly sinuous boundaries suggest a probable medieval origin (3). The line of one of the features is echoed on the OS 1st Edition map by a dispersed row of trees, indicating a probable removed field boundary (3). The charcter of the features suggests historic field boundaries of possible post medieval date, although, given the irregular pattern of historic enclosure in which they are situated, an earlier origin is certainly possible. Some of the ditced linear features may alternatively be post medieval drainage ditches or perhaps had a dual function as both field boundaries and drainage ditches.

The site is partly redeveloped as market gardens and a pond on current Google Earth imagery. The rest is still fields, although there are some areas under tree cover. The features are no longer visible. They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

<1> Royal Air Force, 20-MAR-45, RAF/106G/LA/187 RP 3044-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16091.

<2> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-47, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 RP 3184-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16089.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

Record last edited

Jul 23 2018 3:04PM