Monument record MDO758 - Deserted settlement near Herrison House, Charminster

Slight indications of settlement on air photographs. <2>

As described above; no visible remains. <3>

Potential site of a deserted medieval settlement. The NMR describes 'slight earthworks of a Medieval settlement or farmstead' in the area, 'The remains,which are now completely destroyed, consisted of a slight holloway running NW from a ford across the river and very fragmentary banks and scarps'. Ditched features are visible at this location on aerial photographs <2> and whilst some may be of medieval origin, they may equally be post medieval drainage features. The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 71 (Monograph). SDO146.

'(25) SETTLEMENT REMAINS, (673945) formerly existed 1/4 m. S.W. of Herrison House on the E. side of the R. Cerne. Nothing is known of the history of this settlement but from its position and from the fact that it lay at the S.W. end of a narrow strip of land which was a detached part of Frampton Parish (Tithe Map of Frampton, 1839), it seems likely to have been one of the many Cernes recorded in Domesday Book. It was probably never more than a single farmstead. The remains, which are now completely destroyed, consisted of a slight hollow-way running N.W. from a ford across the river and very fragmentary banks and scarps. Pottery of the 12th to 13th centuries has been found in the area'.

<2> Royal Air Force, 22-JAN-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 4133-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO10893.

<3> Attrill, N J, Field Investigators Comments NJA, F1 NJA 09-MAR-81 (Unpublished document). SDO14743.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 453478 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 28 2023 12:26PM