Monument record MDO4354 - Medieval hamlet of Milborne Deverel, Milborne St Andrew

Medieval settlement remains in the form of closes surrounded by low earthwork banks, situated on both sides of the Milborne Brook. The remains of Milborne Deverel. Extensive earthworks associated with the medieval hamlet are visible as earthworks on lidar imagery and were digitaly recorded during the Dorset Cern and Piddle AIM project.

Settlement Remains (SY 805984) of the former hamlet of Milborne Deverel, lie on both sides of the Milborne Brook immediately S of Deverel Farm. The settlement was probably listed in Domesday Book with Milborne St Andrew; there is no record of its population in any document. Desertion is probably the result of a movement of population from along the Milborne Brook to the modern village astride the Dorchester-Blandford Road. The remains which are very fragmentary, consist of ten rectangular closes on the E of the brook and at least twelve on the W; they are 30yds to 100yds long and 25yds to 40yds wide, and are bounded by banks 1ft to 3ft high. Disturbed areas at the lower ends indicate the sites of former buildings. Other very low banks to the N of Deverel Farm, on the E side of the brook, may be part of the same settlement. <1-2>

SY 807987. Deverel Farm. Milborne Deverel or Cary was originally a manor, probably comprising the north half of the present Milborne St Andrew parish. It was held by the family of (de) Deverel in 1261 and by Thomas de Cary in 1340. <3>

These settlement remains are visible over an area of approximately 2.0 ha. centred at SY 805985. They are fragmentary and, east of the stream, much ploughed down, but two or three close boundary banks are recognisable. A discontinuous north-south ditch may be relatively modern, as is almost certainly the large pond at SY 80489837. No certain building platforms were recognised.
Surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <4>

Extensive earthworks associated with the medieval hamlet are visible as earthworks on lidar imagery <7> to either side of the Milborne Brook between Deverel Farm and Cole Farm. They cover an area of over 10 hectares and were digitaly recorded during the Dorset Cern and Piddle AIM project

<1> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 2115-16 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19591.

<2> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 179 (Monograph). SDO136.

‘(15) SETTLEMENT REMAINS (955984), of the former hamlet of Milborne Deverel, lie on both sides of the Milborne Brook immediately S. of Deverel Farm. The settlement was probably listed in Domesday Book with Milborne St. Andrew; there is no record of its population in any document. Desertion is probably the result of a movement of population from along the Milborne Brook to the modern village astride the DorchesterBlandford road.
The remains, which are very fragmentary, consist of ten rectangular closes on the E. of the brook and at least twelve on the W.; they are 30 yds. to 100 yds. long and 25 yds. to 40 yds. wide, and are bounded by banks 1 ft. to 3 ft. high. Disturbed areas at the lower ends indicate the sites of former buildings. Other very low banks to the N. of Deverel Farm, on the E. side of the brook, may be part of the same settlement.’

<3> Mills, A D, 1977, The place-names of Dorset, Part 1: the Isle of Purbeck, the hundreds of Rowbarrow, Hasler, Winfrith, Culliford Tree, Bere Regis, Barrow, Puddletown St George, 307 (Monograph). SWX972.

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 02-JUN-81 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1994, Medieval Village Research Group Index, PRN 509 (Index). SDO16386.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456046 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<7> Environment Agency, 15-DEC-2023, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO20691.

Record last edited

Jul 18 2024 2:13PM