Monument record MDO753 - Ridge and furrow, Alton Lane, Cerne Abbas

Ridge and furrow earthworks have been identified in a field to the north of Simsay Fields. They comprise a series of regularly-spaced N-S aligned ridges. The are reverse S shaped in plan and are more prominent in the north, petering out towards Alton Lane. The eastern most of the banks is more substantial than the others and may represent a hedge bank. In 1998 an evaluation in advance of housing development at Simsay Fields sampled one of the banks which was shown to be approximately 5 metres wide at the base and protected a buried soil at its base. The bank comprised stony material, very flinty and contained a few sherds of 13th and 14th century pottery. Several parallel lynchets are visible as earthworks on Environment Agency lidar imagery with areas of medieval ridge and furrow cultivation between some of the lynchets visible as cropmarks on a 1974 aerial photograph. The features were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

Ridge and furrow earthworks have been identified in a field to the north of Simsay Fields. They comprise a series of ridges aligned approximately north-south and regualarly spaced approximately 20 metres apart. They are reverse S shaped in plan and are more prominent in the north, petering out towards Alton Lane. The eastern most of the banks is more substantial than the others and may represent a hedge bank.

In 1998 and evaluation in advance of housing development at Simsay Fields sampled one of the banks which was shown to measure approximately 5m wide at the base and protected a buried soil at its base. The bank comprised stony material, very flinty and contained a few sherds of 13th and 14th century pottery. {1}

Further evaluation of the site in 2004 suggested that the ridges and channels on the site may have had a seasonal drainage function, or possibly have been an orchard. Maps of eighteenth-century date show an orchard on this site. {2}

Several parallel and closely set banked lynchets in fields to the south Cerne Abbas are visible as earthworks on Environment Agency lidar imagery [3]. The features are considered to possibly be strip lynchets, perhaps part of a medieval strip field system, although an orchard is indicated on part of the area on the OS 1st Edition map, which might account for these features. Areas of possible medieval ridge and furrow cultivation between some of the lynchets are visible as cropmarks on a 1974 aerial photograph [4]. The area of possible strip lynchets extends further east than the ridge and furrow cultivation. The features were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

<1> Freeman, J P, 1998, Archaeological Evaluation at Alton Lane, Cerne Abbas, Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO11322.

<2> Robinson, S, and Valentin, J, 2004, A Proposed School Site at Simsay, Cerne Abbas, Dorset. Results of an Archaeological Evaluation (Unpublished document). SDO10649.

<3> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 30-MAY-1974, OS 74088 V 212 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20882.

Record last edited

Nov 1 2024 11:44AM