Monument record MDO43100 - Possible post medieval chalk pits, Ellston Hill, Sydling St Nicholas

A row of three sub-circular ditched features are visible as earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs and current Lidar imagery on Ellston Hill, Sydling St Nicholas. The features are described but not named on the OS 1st Edition map and may be post medieval chalk pits, although an older, perhaps prehistoric origin for some is also possible. They were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Frome AIM project.

A row of three sub-circular banked and ditched features are visible as earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs and current Lidar imagery on Ellston Hill, Sydling St Nicholas (1-3). Two of the features are described but not named on the OS 1st Edition map (4). The central of the three features comprises two crescentic banks with a hollow interior, the whole measuring around 17m to the outer edges. The feature is shown as a solid hollow ditch with part of an external bank on its south side on the OS 1st Edition map (1, 2). The southernmost feature appears to comprise a sub-circular bank approximately 15.5m across - and slightly truncated on its west side by a later trackway (1, 2). The northernmost feature comprises a sub-cicrular depression approximately 14.5m in diameter (1, 2).

The features are situated within the extent of a prehistoric field system (MDO2625) where there are also multiple post medieval chalk pits (MDO43089). They may also be extractive pits of post medieval date but it is possible some or all are older, possibly prehistoric in origin.They were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Frome AIM project.

Two of the features are still visible as earthworks on Google Earth and Lidar imagery.

<1> Royal Air Force, 15-APR-45, RAF/106G/LA/218 FP 1038 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17063.

<2> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-47, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2379-80 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17066.

<3> Environment Agency, XX-XXX-2019, LIDAR Environment Agency Composite LAST RETURN (Photograph). SDO16524.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

Record last edited

Feb 23 2021 4:55PM