Monument record MDO44471 - Prehistoric linear earthwork, trackway, Tarrant Launceston, Pimperne

A banked and ditched linear earthwork is visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs, running through the northern edge of Blandford Camp, in Tarrant Launceston and Pimperne parishes. The feature runs from east to west as banked earthworks flanking an inner ditch, continuing along the southern side of a historic hedgeline towards Pimperne. The feature is likely to be late prehistoric, possibly Bronze Age to Iron Age in date, although the western end may incorporate later features. A north-south aligned trackway (MDO373385) of proposed medieval or earlier date appears to cross over the feature, suggesting the latter post-dates it. The feature was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM project.

Situated on a southern slope, this linear earthwork, now considerably destroyed by an army camp at its eastern end, is probably contemporary with the IA/RB Settlement site. <2>

A banked and ditched linear earthwork is visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs, running through the northern edge of Blandford Camp, in Tarrant Launceston and Pimperne parishes <3-5>. The feature runs for ovber 1700m from east to west as banked earthworks flanking an inner ditch, continuing along the southern side of a historic hedgeline towards Pimperne. The earthwork is shown on the OS 1st Edition map <6> but does not include the westernmost extent of the feature, which comprise a single bank on the southern side, with a ditched trackway to the north, hugging the hedgeline <5>.

The feature is likely to be late prehistoric, possibly Bronze Age to Iron Age in date, although the western end may incorporate later features. A north-south aligned trackway (MDO373385) of proposed medieval or earlier date appears to cross over the feature, suggesting the latter post-dates it. The feature was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM project.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1902 (Map). SWX1540.

[ST91250895 to ST 92350917] DYKE [OE]

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 05-APR-54 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Crawford, O G S, 17-JUL-1928, CCC 8837/419 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18615.

<4> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 FS 2153 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18613.

<5> Royal Air Force, 23-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1944 RP 3318 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18614.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209329 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 23 2023 3:33PM