Monument record MDO4721 - Strip lynchets near Home Plantation, Spetisbury

Traces of the former open field system in the form of the earthwork terraces of five strip lynchets south east of Home Plantation. The last parts of the open field system in the parish were enclosed in 1809. The strip lynchets are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs taken in 1947 and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour Catchment AI&M Project.

Traces of the former open field system in the form of the earthwork terraces of five strip lynchets south east of Home Plantation. The last parts of the open field system in the parish were enclosed in 1809. The strip lynchets are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs taken in 1947 <2> and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour Catchment AI&M Project. They are partially still extant and visible on lidar imagery <3>.

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1980, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1977, 10 (Serial). SDO77.

'SPETISBURY (P.40). In the County Record Office is a six-inch OS map on which the late Miss Almack of Blandford St Mary marked field names in the parish of Spetisbury. A group of these, on the hill a few hundred yards south of the Church and immediately south of the old railway line, led to the inclusion of the site in the list of possible parks. They are: Park Hill, Top Park and, on the north-western slope of the hill, bordering the lane which runs south-westwards towards Charlton Down, The Park. These names, oddly enough, do not appear in the Tithe apportionment; the wood, immediately above the railway line, is named by Miss Almack as Home Plantation. Examination of the area showed no earthworks and indeed the site is unsuitable for a number of reasons. The named fields lie on either side of the hill crest and the land is of some agricultural value: the RCHM indeed point out (III, Pt. 2, p. 246) that strip lynchets of the open fields can be traced ' immediately south-east of Home Plantation'. The existence of a medieval park anywhere in the area therefore seems extremely unlikely.'

<1> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 246 (Monograph). SDO136.

‘(29) CULTIVATION REMAINS. Two of the three open-field systems in the parish were not enclosed until 1809 (Enclosure Award D.C.R.O.). Five strip lynchets of the open fields of Spetisbury lie immediately S.E. of Home Plantation (909025). Very fragmentary contour strip lynchets of the open fields of Crawford Magna remain on the river cliff between the village and the railway (91550215-91780192); on the Tithe Map of 1839 part of these fields is called ‘The Hanging’. Other slight traces lie within Spetisbury Rings and to the S.E. (917017). Of the open fields of Middle Street no trace remains.’

<1.1> St Joseph, J K, St Joseph AQ 28 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19414.

<2> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 FP 1101 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18296.

<3> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209718 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 5 2024 11:06AM