Monument record MDO7526 - Late prehistoric enclosed field system, Corfe Castle

A group of linear and curvilinear banks and ditches are visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs of fields to the east of Corfe Castle village. They are considered likely to be the remains of a late prehistoric enclosed field system.

(Area SY 968813) Field system taken from air photographs (not cited). (1)

Sandyhills SY 967815 - SY 974809. Traces of 'Celtic' fields are traceable over at least 70 acres of undulating sandy ground, much ploughed, on the east side of Corfe Common. Lynchets are up to 2ft high but there are no complete fields. The Iron Age/Romano British occupation site (SY 98 SE 41) is adjacent but not demonstrably related. <2>

Scant surface evidence of this field system survives in in the regularly cultivated and undulating arable fields. A number of discontinuous low spread banks up to 0.3m in height are identifiable on the west-facing slopes centred SY 97298126 and vestiges of lynchets are visible in low sunlight conditions on the cultivated slopes centred SY 96948121 but in general the system can be said to be ploughed out. <4>

The 'Celtic' fields located in the eastern part of East Common are very slight because they have clearly been incorporated into a system of contour-following Medieval lynchets. This Medieval pattern has been ploughed down and overlaid by emphermeral linear earthen banks which run up and down the slope and are probably part of the World War II agricultural intake. The survival of these earthworks is surprising given the agricultural activity which included deep ploughing and drainage works - visible on the 1946 Aps (CPE/UK.1821.2406/7.4.11.1946). See Corfe Common report AI/28/2003. <5>

A group of linear and curvilinear banks and ditches are visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs of fields to the east of Corfe Castle village <8-14>. They are considered likely to be the remains of a late prehistoric enclosed field system. These features were digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck mapping project.

<1> Atkinson, R J C, 1949, spec 6 inch (RJCA 1.3.49) (Map). SWX1583.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 630-1 (Monograph). SDO150.

<3> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 75 (Index). SDO147.

Lies in a field occasionally ploughed and in ley pasture when visited. OS SY98SE13.

<4> Fletcher, Martin, Field investigator's comments MJF, F1 MJF 17-OCT-86 (Unpublished document). SDO17630.

<5> Fletcher, Martin, Field investigator's comments MJF, Field Investigation 20-FEB-2004 (Unpublished document). SDO17630.

<6> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<7> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AF00137 (Index). SDO14738.

Corfe Common, Dorset. A large scale archaeological survey and investigation of Corfe Common was commissioned by the National Trust to provide detailed information to aid future management and conservation decisions. The common is a unique landscape, an SSSI entirely enclosed by cultivated land, which incorporates an impressive variety of relatively undisturbed archaeological features. The analytical investigation was undertaken by staff from the English Heritage Exeter Office in the Spring of 2003.Background AutoCAD files stored on CD03001: 'Plan.dwg' and '1to10000plan.dwg'.

<8> Royal Air Force, 10-FEB-1945, RAF 106G/LA/128 7063-64 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13673.

<9> Royal Air Force, 14-MAR-1945, RAF 106G/LA/194 259-60 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13674.

<10> Royal Air Force, 27-MAR-1945, RAF 106G/LA/200 1062-63 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13675.

<11> Royal Air Force, 27-MAR-1945, RAF 106G/LA/200 1063-64 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13677.

<12> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1821 2405-06 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13667.

<13> Royal Air Force, 06-MAY-1969, RAF 58/2843 0100-01 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13676.

<14> Dorset County Council, 2002, VAP (Aerial Photograph). SDO13141.

<15> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456794 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 10 2023 11:23AM