Monument record MDO48420 - Possible medieval strip field/ridge and furrow, Cerne Abbas

An area of ridge and furrow cultivation to the southwest of Cerne Abbas is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery.Several narrow lynchets on an east-west alignment are visible to the south of the ridge and furrow, one respecting the southern edge of one of the sections. These could potentially be further medieval strip lynchets, although they are on the edges of a later prehistoric field system (MDO48415) so could include earlier features - one of the lynchets is shown on the OS 1st Edition map where it is suggested to form part of a 'camp', indicating it was considered to be later prehistoric in origin.

An area of ridge and furrow cultivation to the southwest of Cerne Abbas is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery [1, 2, 3]. The features are positioned relative to several pronounced curvilinear banked lynchets which might be contemporary and the whole is considered to possibly be an area of former medieval strip field.
The features were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project. Some of the features are no longer visible on lidar imagery.

<1> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2377 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20883.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 30-MAY-1974, OS 74088 V 213 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20887.

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

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

Record last edited

Aug 19 2024 2:39PM