Monument record MDO47041 - Medieval field boundaries and possible deserted settlement, Castle Farm, Lytchett Matravers

Banked and ditched linear and curvilinear features in fields to the south of Castle Farm, Lytchett Matravers, are visible as earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs. The features are considered likely to be field boundaries and trackways of medieval date, although a post medieval origin is also possible. It is just possible the boundaries are associated with a small deserted farmstead or settlement of medieval date but this is not certain. A small sub circular feature contained within the suemi circular enclosure and shown on the OS 1st Edition map might be a medieval to post medieval pond. The features were digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM project.

Banked and ditched linear and curvilinear features in fields to the south of Castle Farm, Lytchett Matravers, are visible as earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs [1, 2]. The features
are located within an irregular historic field of probable medieval derivation and sub divide this, forming a partial small sub rectilinear and a semi circular enclosure. A further banked linear is loated on the opposite side of the road, also sub dividing a historic field and aligning with adjacent boundaries of probable medieval origin. The features
are considered likely to be field boundaries and trackways of medieval date, although a post medieval origin is also possible. It is just possible the boundaries are associated with a small deserted farmstead or settlement of medieval date but this is not certain. A small sub circular feature contained within the semi circular enclosure, visible as an earthwork on 1940s aerial photographs and shown on the OS 1st Edition map might be a medieval to post medieval pond [1, 3].

The features were digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM project. Some of the features are still visible on 2022 Google Earth imagery, although most are not.

<1> Royal Air Force, 05-MAR-1945, RAF/106G/LA/163 RP 3072 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19967.

<2> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RS 4244 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19959.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

Record last edited

Oct 10 2023 6:05PM