Monument record MDO5841 - Deserted settlement, Moor Crichel

Earthworks of the site of a medieval settlement moved as a consequence of landscaping of the park around Crichel House. The move seems to have taken place in the late 1760s, as a map of 1765 shows houses beside the lake but a second map dated around 1770 does not. The village moved south to New Town in Witchampton. The remains comprise two lines of rectangular closes on each side of a hollow way parallel with the late. In 1975 the earthworks, which had been visible as low banks and scarps, were described as being recently levelled leaving spread banks with scatters of cobble, stone and brick.

SETTLEMENT REMAINS (994080) of the former village of Moor Crichel lie on the W. of the lake, some 250 yds. S. of Crichel House The lake was made before 1765 and at first the village remained beside it. Humphrey Sturt's enlargement of the house was accompanied by the landscaping of the park and consequent removal of the village to New Town in WITCHAMPTON, 1,000 yds. further S. (ST 90 NE 42).
The houses had gone by about 1770.

The remains comprise two lines of rectangular closes flanking a hollow-way 12 yds. wide, parallel with the lake. The closes, 20 yds. to 40 yds. wide and up to 70 yds. long, were bounded by low banks and scarps. Disturbed areas formerly indicated buildings, but the remains have recently been obliterated, and only spread banks with scatters of cobble, stone and brick remain. <1>

Historical background <2>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 44, No 8 (Monograph). SDO129.

‘(8) SETTLEMENT REMAINS (994080) of the former village lie on the W. of the lake, some 250 yds. S. of Crichel House (2). The lake was made before 1765 (I.Taylor’s map of Dorset) and at first the village remained beside it. Humphrey Sturt’s enlargement of the house was accompanied by the landscaping of the park and consequent removal of the village to New Town in WITCHAMPTON, 1, 000 yds. further S. The houses had gone by c. 1770 (I.Taylor’s map of Moor Crichel, D.C.R.O., photocopy 1/12). The remains comprise two lines of rectangular closes flanking a hollow –way 12 yds. wide, parallel with the lake. The closes, 10 yds. to 40 yds. wide and up to 70 yds. long, were bounded by low banks and scarps. Disturbed areas formerly indicated buildings, but the remains have recently been obliterated, and only spread banks with scatters of cobble, stone and brick remain.’

<2> Good, R, 1979, Lost Villages of Dorset, 31-2 (Monograph). SWX1569.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1994, Medieval Village Research Group Index, PRN 486 (Index). SDO16386.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209293 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 3 2023 3:26PM