Monument record MDO49949 - Possible post medieval chalk pit and firing range, Okeford Fitzpaine

An irregular ditched earthwork is visible on the southwest side of Okeford Hill, Okeford Fitzpaine, on 1940s aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery. The feature corresponds with the site of a target/mantlet for a rifle range recorded on the OS 2nd Epoch 25 inch map, but which possibly re-uses an earlier chalk pit. There is a small circular earthwork visible within the pit on a 1947 aerial photograph, that might be the target itself. The features were digitally plotted during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

An irregular ditched earthwork is visible on the southwest side of Okeford Hill, Okeford Fitzpaine, on 1940s aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery (RAF 1947; EA 2018). The feature corresponds with the site of a target/mantlet for a rifle range recorded on the OS 2nd Epoch 25 inch map (OS c1908), but which possibly re-uses an earlier chalk pit. There is a small circular earthwork visible within the pit on a 1947 aerial photograph, that might be the target itself (RAF 1947). The features were digitally plotted during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch 2 (Map). SDO11594.

Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1975 RS 4025 (Aerial Photograph). SDO21601.

Environment Agency, xx-xxx-2018, Environment Agency National Lidar Programme DTM 1M (Aerial Photograph). SDO21483.

Record last edited

Dec 29 2025 1:06PM