Monument record MDO5379 - Strip lynchets, Woolland

Strip lynchets, thought to be part of the open fields around the deserted village of Chitcombe. In 1970 these lynchets were described as a block of eight contour strip lynchets up to 20 feet high, and covering around 15 acres. A series of medieval strip lynchets to the east of Chitcombe Farm are visible as earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs and current Environment Agency lidar imagery. The features were digitally plotted during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

A series of medieval strip lynchets to the east of Chitcombe Farm are visible as earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs and current Environment Agency lidar imagery (RAF 1945; EA 2018). At their southwestern end the features merge with part of a probable later prehsitoric field system (MDO5386). The features were digitally plotted during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

Royal Air Force, 27-MAR-1945, RAF/106G/LA200 FS 2068 (Aerial Photograph). SDO21689.

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

<1> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 316 (Monograph). SDO136.

'(6) CULTIVATION REMAINS. Nothing is known of the open fields of Woolland; they were certainly enclosed by 1791 (Map of Woolland, D.C.R.O.) and 160 acres of enclosed land is recorded in 1560 (S. & D., N. & Q., vol. 19 (1927-9), 125). About 20 acres of ridge-and-furrow arranged in rectangular furlongs up to 150 yds. long remain in Woolland Park. To N. and E. of the park further traces can be seen on air photographs (R.A.F. CPE/UK 1974: 1176-80); they are unrelated to the present field boundaries.

On the steep N.W. face of the Chalk scarp (787069), immediately E. of Chitcombe Farm (3), a block of eight contour strip lynchets with risers up to 20 ft. high covers some 15 acres. These and two other strip lynchets in Launch Wood (777066) may be part of the open fields of Chitcombe.'

Record last edited

Feb 17 2026 1:39PM