Monument record MDO4904 - Harbin's Park, Tarrant Gunville

A medieval deer park, known as Tarrant Gunville Park until about the 19th century, when the name was changed to Harbin's Park. There are documentary references to this park between 1279 and 1398, but other documentary evidence suggests the deer park continued in use into the 17th century. The park, lying on the eastern slope of a dry valley, encloses a rectangular area of about 55ha within earthwork banks, but these have been ploughed out to the north.

The deer park was known as Tarrant Gunville Park until about the 19th century, when the name was changed to Harbin's Park, to include the name of the owner at the time. The earliest documentary reference to the park dates to 1279 and the latest occurs in 1398. However in 1649, a dispute between Harbin and Pitt, lord of Cranborne Chase and owner of the adjacent estate, concerning deer from the chase, might suggest that the deer park continued in use into the 17th century. The park, lying on the eastern slope of a dry valley, encloses a rectangular area of about 55ha. It has probably altered little in appearance since the medieval period, lying in old woodland with several clearings referred to as `laundes' in medieval documents. The bank and ditch are generally well-preserved except on the northern side where the earthworks have been levelled by ploughing. A short section of the ditch at the north west corner is visible as a vegetation mark in an arable field. Early Ordnance Survey maps show the north eastern corner of the deer park as an earthwork with two sharply angled corners, but this is no longer visible on the ground. The ditch may survive as a buried feature but as the exact location cannot be verified on the ground this section of the boundary has not been included in the scheduling. The bank, which is 5m wide, is steep in profile, up to 0.8m high externally and up to 2m above the silted inner ditch which measures up to 5m wide. A 15m gap in the bank and the ditch at the south western corner may be the original entrance. <3>

Harbin's Park, a deer park of 115 acres, recorded in 1279, is more or less rectangular in plan and bounded by banks up to 16 feet in width and 5 feet in height, with inner ditches 15 feet wide. <3>

Harbins Park (name confirmed) lies on the east slope of a dry valley and encloses 55 hectares. The pale is in excellent condition on the east, south and west sides where its bank and internal ditch each measure 5 metres wide on average. The bank stands 1.5 metres high above the silted bottom of the ditch and up to 0.8 metres high on its outer side. A continuous 340 metres length on the north west side published as a 'Ditch' (NR) on the OS 25" (b), has now been completely levelled but the ditch alignment only, remains visible as a 3 metres wide 'swath' of lush grass pasture. The north east section has also been destroyed and no traces of it remain in the area which is under plough. This section lays on level ground and there is no apparent reason for its original angular changes of alignment. Survey (1:2500) revised on AO Models and CR paper copy. <4>

ST 9010 1308: Harbin's Park a medieval deer park and bank and ditch of the pale which defines part of the boundary of the park on the southern edge of Cranborne Chase west of Harbins Park Farm. The deer park was known as Tarrant Gunville Park until the 19th century. The earliest reference to the park is 1279. The bank and ditch are well preserved except to the north where there has been levelling by ploughing and a section of ditch in the north west corner visible only as a crop mark. The park encloses a rectangular area of old woodland with several clearings referred to as `laundes'. The bank is 5 metres wide and 0.8 metres high externally and up to 2 metres above the silted inner ditch which measures up to 5 metres wide. A 15 metres gap in the bank and ditch at the south west corner may be an original entrance. Several other truncations through the earthworks have been made since. Scheduled. <6>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

Centred ST 901 131: Park Pale (NR)

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1965, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1964, 170-172 (Serial). SDO64.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 95 (Monograph). SDO99.

(30) HARBIN'S PARK (9013), a Deer Park of 115 acres recorded in 1279, lies in the W. of the parish and extends across the E. declivity of a dry valley. More or less rectangular in plan, it is bounded by b anks up to 16 ft. in width and 5 ft. in height, with inner ditches 15 ft. wide (Dorset Procs., 86 (1965), 170-2).

<4> Chaplin, C P, Various, Field Investigators Comments CC, F1 CC 11-JAN-1978 (Unpublished document). SWX3450.

<4.1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1 to 25 inch scale map, 1900 (Map). SDO18020.

<5> English Heritage, Scheduling Amendment, 11-DEC-2001 (Scheduling record). SDO17245.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 206112 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 12 2024 1:20PM