Monument record MDO44823 - Field system on Bokerley Down, Pentridge

Remnants of a later prehistoric or Roman field system visible on Bokerley Down, southeast of the Dorset Cursus and southwest of Bokerley Dyke. Ordnance Survey field investigation in 1954 recorded lynchets surviving as earthworks up to a metre high and including a northwest-southeast orientated lyncheted track which cuts across the cursus close to its terminal. More recently the lynchets, which form part of a wider spread of fields on the chalk downs in the area, have been recorded from air photographs.

(Centred SU 041189) Field system on Bokerley Down identified from air photographs. <1>

Iron Age/Romano-British type lynchets up to 1.0m high survive in the area of the long barrows (SU 01 NW 40), and a north west - south east double lynchet way cuts through the Cursus at SU 039191. Lynchets up to 0.5m high are visible at SU 03931928. <2>

Part of a group of 'Celtic' fields occupying the chalklands in the north east of the county. There are indications on air photographs that at the north end of the group, near Bokerley Gap, fields formerly occupied some of the land between Grim's Ditch and Bokerley Dyke. <3>

A rapid examination of air photography <6.1> suggests the presence of linear features, visible as cropmarks between Bokerley Ditch and Blagdon Plantation, probably part of the field system. <6>

<1> Atkinson, R J C, 1949, Annotated Record Map Rec. 6 (R J C Atkinson 1 3 49) (Map). SWX2397.

<2> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 26-JUN-54 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 118-9, [Group 85] (Monograph). SDO129.

<4> Historic England, Historic England Archive, Object Number: RCH01/091. (Index). SDO14738.

Object Title: RCHME Inventory: Dorset V (East). Scope & Content: Annotated publication proofs for Dorset V, East Dorset, published in 1974. Also includes original surveys, drawings and field notes, and unpublished material. Original survey material has been catalogued.

<5> Bowen, H C, 1990, The Archaeology of Bokerley Dyke (Monograph). SWX800.

<6> Miller, Andrew, RCHME/EH/HE Aerial Photographers comment AM, 11-FEB-1993/RCHME: AP Primary Recording Project (Verbal communication). SDO17356.

<6.1> National Monuments Record, NMR 4279: 17-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18868.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 213541 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 23 2022 2:24PM