Monument record MDO748 - Medieval strip lynchets, Dickley Hill, Cerne Abbas

Earthworks of medieval strip lynchets run around the northern slope of Dickley Hill.The features are visible as earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs and on Environment Agency lidar imagery and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

Four strip lynchets at ST 658009 curl round the north-west end of Dickley Hill. The lower two have high risers and may be derived from 'Celtic' fields. <1>

The area, 500m by 50m, centred at ST 65760095 comprises four strips of varying widths, 8.0m to 18.0m, with separating lynchets 1.0m to 2.0m high.

The two lower strips, and a lead-in to the higher ones, are parallel to the Cerne-Sydling road. The two upper lynchets however curve round the NE part of Dickley Hill and are lost in
modern ploughland.

The system is clear on the air photograph (a). <2>

An area of strip lynchets that curl round the north-west end of Dickley Hill and extend southwestwards along the roadside are visible as earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs and on Environment Agency lidar imagery. The features were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project. <5, 6>

<1> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Unpublished revision RCHME Dorset I (West) Undated (Cerne Abbas file), No 34, 21-09-76 (Unpublished document). SDO17365.

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, 20-OCT-76 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<2.1> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 2376 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17366.

<3> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/088 RCHME Inventory: Dorset I (West) and Revision (Unpublished document). SDO17367.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 198980 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<5> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2377 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20883.

<6> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Nov 1 2024 11:44AM