Monument record MDO554 - Deer park, Clinger Farm, Buckland Newton

An earthwork bank and ditch on the north side of Little Minterne Hill is thought to be the remains of the pale of a medieval deer park. An area of around 60 hectares is enclosed by the pale. In the best preserved parts of the circuit the surviving parts of the bank is recorded as being around 6 metres wide and up to 1.7 metres high, and the ditch 2 metres wide and 0.5 metres deep; the western parts of the circuit are less distinct. The south and southwest sections of the deer park pale are visible on Environment Agency lidar imagery as a curvilinear bank with internal ditch and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

Bank and ditch (ST 66830528-67590517) on the north side of Little Minterne Hill encloses about 150 acres and is probably a park pale. It is best preserved on south-west where the bank is 20 ft wide and 3 ft high with an internal ditch 12 ft wide and 2 ft deep. The circuit is very irregular especially in the west. <3>

This linear earthwork is evidently the remains of a Medieval park pale which perhaps enclosed 60 hectares centred at ST 67100475. Now only the southern half is identifiable with any certainty and this is not impressive. It comprises a flat topped bank about 6.0m wide and from 0.5m to 1.7m high. In part there are traces of an inner ditch 2.0m wide and 0.5m deep. Both bank and ditch vary widely in condition and now form field boundaries. Surveyed at 1:2500. <4>

Park pale surveyed at 1:2500 on AM ST 6605 (Dorset C3). <5>

The south and southwest sections of the deer park pale are visible on Environment Agency lidar imagery as a curvilinear bank with internal ditch and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project. <7>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1962 (Map). SWX1540.

Earthwork (NR)

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1968, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1967, 177-180 (Serial). SDO67.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 53 (Monograph). SDO146.

‘(21) Bank and Ditch (66830523-67590517), on the N. side of Little Minterne Hill in the extreme W. of the parish, encloses about 150 acres and is probably a park pale. Where best preserved, to the W.W., the bank is 20 ft. wide and 3 ft. high with an internal ditch 12 ft. wide and 2 ft. deep. The circuit is very irregular with many changes of direction, especially on the W. side.’

<4> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 20-OCT-76 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<5> Stone, J W, Field Investigators Comments JWS, F2 14-DEC-77 (Unpublished document). SDO11902.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 198893 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<7> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Jan 3 2025 4:59PM