Monument record MDO683 - Medieval field system, The Castle, Cattistock

A medieval field system surrounding and within The Castle hillfort, Cattistock. Strip lynchets and ridge and furrow cultivation ridges were digitally plotted from aerial photographs and lidar imagery during the Upper Frome and Sydling Valley AIM project.

A medieval field system surrounding and within The Castle hillfort, Cattistock. Strip lynchets and ridge and furrow cultivation ridges were digitally plotted from aerial photographs and lidar imagery <5-6> during the Upper Frome and Sydling Valley AIM project.

Centred at ST 59440009.

A pasture area with a series of regularly spaced and parallel strip lynchets averaging 0.4 m. high. These generally follow the contours and are set in an NE-SW direction, except on the W. slope of CASTLE HILL where three lynchets run from N-S in a grass field.

It is notable that this evidently Modern system is continued on the top of the earthwork called "The Castle."

The system is visible on AP. CPE/UK/1974/3384. <2>

<2> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-47, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 RP 3384 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17110.

<3> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 13-MAY-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<4> Corney, M, 1987, Ordnance Survey Map Revision, West Dorset, 9-10 (Article in serial). SDO14053.

‘RCHME is responsible for supplying the Ordnance Survey with up to date surveys of antiquities for depiction on larger scale OS plans. The Melbury area of West Dorset is currently under revision at 1:2500 scale, and the following sites were recorded at a basic scale of 1:1000 with reductions of 1:2500 being supplied to the OS at Southampton. A selection of those sites recorded is noted below. … Castle Hill, Cattisctock, hillfort, barrow and field system ST 594003: The univallate hillfort with a round barrow inside it was re-surveyed. Previously unrecorded ‘Celtic’ fields on a steep slope south-east of the fort were also planned. North of the fort an extensive series of strip lynchets were noted.’

<5> National Monuments Record, 10-JAN-2007, NMR 24507 (ST5900/10) (Aerial Photograph). SDO16582.

<6> Environment Agency, XX-XXX-2019, LIDAR Environment Agency Composite LAST RETURN (Photograph). SDO16524.

<7.1> Historic England, Historic England Archive, Cattistock Castle Hill/ink survey. (Index). SDO14738.

Object Number: 888910

<7.2> Historic England, Historic England Archive, Cattistock Castle Hill/pencil survey (Index). SDO14738.

Object Number: 888912

<7.3> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AF0888907 RCHME: Castle Hill, Cattistock, Dorset (Index). SDO14738.

Report with field survey team Contents : 2 plans, report Condition : Satisfactory

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 195870 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 16 2024 5:06PM