Monument record MDO6485 - Woodlands Park, Woodlands

Extent of park plotted from first edition Ordnance Survey map. <1>

A clearly defined area immediately south-east of Woodlands village … and shown in the same position on the first edition of the 1-inch Ordnance Survey map. It also appeared in earlier maps including Taylor (1765), Speed (1610) and Saxton (1575). Other documents indicate the presence of a park in this location in the 14th and 15th centuries.

A park at Woodlands belonging to the Filiol family is referred to by Hutchins <2.1>. The Filiols lived at Woodlands in the 14th and 15th centuries. The first known documentary reference to the park is in
1583, but the southern length of perimeter bank and ditch (see A-B on annotated plan) is definitely of Medieval character.

The suggested perimeter encloses an area of about 250 acres, but the western boundary is uncertain. No remains of bank or ditch exist on this side, and the park is said <2.2> to have included Woodlands
manor-house (SU 045082) in 1638. Medieval parks rarely contained a building however, particularly the manor-house, and the 17th century parkland may have been extended from the Medieval original. <2>

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1970, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1969, 201-202 (Serial). SDO69.

<2.1> Hutchins, J, 1774, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. Volume 1. 1st edition (Monograph). SWX2949.

<2.2> Shipp, W (ed), 1868, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. 3rd edition. Volume 3, 154 (Monograph). SWX3207.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1970 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred SU 057081) Woodlands Park (NAT)

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 212961 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2023 9:15AM