Monument record MDO7348 - Prehistoric field system on Smedmore Hill, Church Knowle

Traces of 'Celtic Fields' can be detected over some 80 acres. The fields are well preserved where they lie in permanent pasture but badly damaged where they are ploughed.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Records, SY 97 NW 4 (Index). SDO131.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 629 (Monograph). SDO150.

Traces of 'Celtic Fields' can be detected over some 80 acres (in Church Knowle and Steeple parishes, between 500 ft and 600 ft above O.D.) in an area rich in Iron Age and Romano-British settlement remains. An almost certain relationship is only now visible around settlement Church Knowle (55),q.v. Strip lynchets and later narrow rig have contributed largely to the destruction of the fields.

<3> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 205 (Index). SDO147.

'The fields are well preserved where they lie in permanent pasture but badly damaged where they are ploughed. Only the fields E. of Bradle Barn are unploughed.'

Record last edited

Mar 15 2025 5:58PM