Monument record MDO46400 - Prehistoric field system, Bere Regis

An extensive prehistoric field system is visible as cropmarks and earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar imagery to the northeast of Haywards Farm, Bere Regis. It covers an area of over 174 hectares and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM. The field system extends to the north and south and is further recorded in MDO48315 and MDO48316.

(SY 813964-831974), Bere Regis. 'Celtic' fields, mostly broken and in parts overlain by strip ploughing, cover 220 acres between 160 ft. and 320 ft. above O.D. on the sides and floor of a shallow valley running S.E.-N.W. The subsoil is chalk with some clay and pebble capping. Lynchets are generally very well developed but only survive clearly at the N.E. of the group and near a probable settlement (a) at the S.W. Fields have been carefully fitted around a long barrow, Bere Regis (SY 89 NW 28) and a number of round barrows, all at or near field angles. The parish boundary which forms the W. limit of the group generally lies on a bank (linear dyke -SY 89 NW 61) , which is interrupted by the track W. from (a). 160 yds. S.E. of Roke Barn, about 821963, is a low banked circle about 18 ft. across, without entrance, and probably modern.

(i) Roke Down. S.E. of the former Roke Barn, lynchets are in places up to 21 ft. high, though most are levelled. Strip ploughing is apparent and immediately S.E. of Roke Barn is marked by ridge-and-furrow 15yds. to 17 yds. broad and up to 1 ft. high. At 81559625 is a probable settlement area, (a), of about 1 1/2 acres, on the sheltered N. brow of an E.-W. ridge with 'Celtic' fields above and below. It consists of an almost flat strip of ground 50 ft. to 100 ft. wide with occasional low and poorly defined platforms along it, which stretches for 750 ft. on the S. side of a scarped track, now partly hollowed, up to 21 ft. wide. This track terminates at the E. end of the supposed settlement where there are two ill-marked curved platforms set into the hillside below another platform measuring about 70 ft. by 24 ft.

(ii) Bere Down. At the W. end of the Down, on ground sloping gently S.W., lynchets are frequently about 4 ft. high, though all ploughed over, and no complete fields survive. (SY 89 NW 28) Long barrow the ditches of which cannot be seen, appears to have been used as a 'Celtic' field side. <1>

An extensive prehistoric field system is visible as cropmarks and earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar imagery to the northeast of Haywards Farm, Bere Regis <2-5, 8-13> . It covers an area of over 174 hectares and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM and the Dorset Upper Cern and Piddle AIM Projects. The field system extends to the north and south and is further recorded in MDO48315 and MDO48316.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 632-3 (Monograph). SDO150.

<2> John Boyden, 08-JUL-1976, JRB 3305/22 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19878.

<3> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 RP 3349-51 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19881.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 18-APR-1980, OS/80021 V 161-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19664.

<5> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

<6> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455864 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<8> Historic England Archive, 08-JUL-1976, HEA 29574/028 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20794.

<9> National Monuments Record, 27-AUG-1998, NMR 18142/06 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20791.

<10> NMR 4527: 22-27 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20322.

<11> J R Boyden, 08-JUL-1976, JRB 3305/20 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20775.

<12> National Monuments Record, 06-SEP-1976, NMR 27602/22 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20843.

<13> Historic England Archive, 30-APR-2015, HEA 29574/039 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20842.

Record last edited

Aug 4 2024 3:18PM