Monument record MDO5502 - Prehistoric field system, Cranborne

An extensive prehistoric field system recorded from air photographs and as slight earthworks on the ground. Covers a large area of the Chalk in the northeast of Dorset. Over much of the area, they are now only visible as faint soil marks. The fields appear to be integrated with the Iron Age and Romano-British site at Jack's Hedge Corner. Ordnance Survey field investigation in the 1950s recorded irregular and vague banks and lynchets surviving up to a heigh of 0.5 metres.

(Name SU 042152) Field System (NR). <3>

(Centred SU 041153) Field system identified on air photographs. <1>

Irregular and vague field banks and lynchets, average height 0.5m, are visible in this area. Presumably associated with the Iron Age/Romano-British settlement (SU 01 NW 66). <2>

Part of a group of 'Celtic' fields covering the chalkland in the north east of the county. The fields are clearly integrated with the Romano-British settlement at Jack's Hedge Corner (SU 01 NW 66). Around SU 044153 continuous lynchet lines appear to have served as boundaries between blocks of fields. <4>

<1> Atkinson, R J C, Annotated Record Map Private 6 Sheet (R J C Atkinson Undated), Corr 6" (R J C Atkinson 1.5.49) (Map). SWX1667.

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 11-AUG-54 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 118-9, plan (Celtic Fields Group 85) (Monograph). SDO129.

‘GROUP (85): GARSTON DOWN – HANDLEY DOWN – OAKLEY DOWN – BOKERLEY DOWN – PENTRIDGE HILL – BOTTLEBUSH DOWN – CROCKERTON HILL - BLACKBUSH DOWN - TOBY’S BOTTOM (Cranborne, Pentridge, Sixpenny Handley, Wimborne St Giles). ‘Celtic’ fields cover a large area of the Chalk in the N.E. of the county, close to the boundary with Hampshire. They extend for nearly 4 miles from W. to E. and for over 3 miles from N. to S. Their distribution is closely, though not entirely, related to the areas of downland pasture shown on O. S., 1811. Over much of this area cultivation has removed the ‘Celtic’ fields as relief features visible on the ground and they are now only discernible, often faintly, on air photographs. Fields are notably absent in the immediate vicinity of villages, and remains are best preserved in the peripheral and adjoining areas of the parishes where, until recently, cultivation has been minimal. As relief features the fields survive best on the steeper slopes, for example W. and N.W. of Penbury Knoll. They vary markedly in size, though it must be accepted that many internal divisions have almost certainly been destroyed; they also vary it some extent in shape, though the majority tend to squareness. The more elongated rectangular fields generally attributed to the Romano-British period are not noticeably in evidence, thought they seem to occur on Oakley Down and N. of Salisbury Plantation (024176); also possibly S. and W. of the R. Crane. In the latter area, particularly N. of Nine Yews, two phases of fields may be distinguished, one overlying the other.
The ‘Celtic’ fields impinge on numerous other sites and earthworks. On Handley Down they appear to be integrated with the later Bronze Age settlement known as Angle Ditch (SIXPENNY HANDLEY (27)). The Iron Age and Romano-British settlement on Oakley Down (WIMBORNE ST. GILES (36)) is clearly integrated with fields, as are the Romano-British settlements at Jack’s Hedge Corner (CRANBORNE (34)) and S.W. of Oakley Farm (SIXPENNY HANDLEY (21)). Fields adjoin the probable settlement near Bowldish Pond (WIMBORNE ST. GILES (37)) and all but join the Iron Age hill-fort on Penbury Knoll (PENTRIDGE (18)). Their alignment oblique to the Roman road, N. of Salisbury Plantation and on Oakley Down, suggests the likelihood that the road was laid across existing fields; but a similar oblique alignment of the fields with regard to the Neolithic Cursus is observable on the edge of Salisbury Plantation (027169).On Bottlebush Down (026156) and at Nine Yews (039138), ‘Celtic’ fields are integrated with lengths of bank and ditch, now largely flattened by ploughing, which presumably served as some form of boundary between blocks of fields. Elsewhere, continuous lynchet lines appear to have served a similar purpose, for instance S.W. of Jack’s Hedge Corner (around 044153) and N. of Nine Yews (037142). There are indications on air photographs that at the N. end of the group, near Bokerley Gap, ‘Celtic’ fields formerly occupied some of th eland between Grim’s Ditch and Bokerley Dyke.
A round barrow (PENTRIDGE (25)) lies in what appears to be the middle of a ‘Celtic’ field N.W. of Penbury Knoll, and another (WIMBORNE ST. GILES (83)) occurs just E. of Salisbury Plantation. In neither instance, however, is it certain that the barrow was built after the field had been laid out. Other barrows have been incorporated in the boundaries of fields, for example WIMBORNE ST. GILES (34), (56), (58), (114-116), (118), (123) and (124).’

<5> Historic England, Historic England Archive, Object Number: RCH01/091. (Index). SDO14738.

Object Title: RCHME Inventory: Dorset V (East). Scope & Content: Annotated publication proofs for Dorset V, East Dorset, published in 1974. Also includes original surveys, drawings and field notes, and unpublished material. Original survey material has been catalogued.

<6> Bowen, H C, 1990, The Archaeology of Bokerley Dyke (Monograph). SWX800.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 213512 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 16 2024 5:05PM