Monument record MDO6116 - Field system, Sixpenny Handley

Traces of a later prehistoric or Roman field system on Oakley Down is visible on air photographs. In 1954 the Ordnance Survey noted some vague ploughed down lynchets just visible in places, but no overall pattern surviving on the ground. The fields form part of a wider network of field systems visible over the northeast part of Dorset.

(Centred SU 010177) Field system on Oakley Down. Taken from air photographs, Jan to March 1949. <1>

Vague, ploughed down lynchets are just visible over parts of this area, but no regular field pattern can be traced on the ground. <2>

"Celtic" fields on Oakley Down; part of a group covering the chalkland in the north east of the county. The fields impinge on, and appear to be integrated with the Iron Age/Romano-British settlement (SU 01 NW 17) [Note: ie MDO6284] which lies amongst them. <3-4>

The field system was examined by MPPA for possible scheduling, but since it is reduced by ploughing and there are no extant earthwork features, it is not recommended for scheduling. Ground photo with archive report. <5>

<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> Swatridge, G C, Various, Field Investigators Comments GCS, F1 GCS 06-APR-54 (Unpublished document). SWX1169.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 118-9, [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. (see distribution map of Iron Age and Romano-British Monuments opp. p. xxvi). 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 (map in end-pocket) 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 to 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, though 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 (Plate 86).

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 (Plate 78; plan opp. p. 102), 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 the land 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 (54), (56), (58), (114–116), (118), (123) and (124).
Air photographs: CPE/UK 2038: 3041–53, 4041–55, 4111–16; 58/3250: 0055–58, 0086–98, 0120–23; F21/58RAF/1090: 0146– 54; F22/58RAF/1090: 0146–53.
N.M.R., SU 0314/1–5; 0315/1–5; 0315/6/36–47; 0515/1–2; 0515/4/71–9; 0515/5/64–70; 0316/1/80–2; 0316/2/91–2; 0416/1/ 48–62; 0317/2/63–4; 0517/2/84–90; 0418/2; 0418/6/8; 0418/6/14– 6.
C.U.A.P., ABX 80; ANB 58–75; AQZ 10–11; AXM 47, 49; V-DG 6–12, 22, 27–47, 58–63, 66–80, 83–96; V-DH 1–20; RC 8; X 99–101; V 215–9; V 223–9.'

<4> Bowen, H C, 1990, The Archaeology of Bokerley Dyke (Monograph). SWX800.

<5> English Heritage, English Heritage Alternative Action Report, anon, undated (Scheduling record). SDO18279.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 213590 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 29 2024 3:28PM