Monument record MDO763 - Medieval field system north of Forston, Charminster

Contour strip lynchets arranged in two end-on furlong blocks, the remains of open fields around Forston. The features, along with possible areas of ridge and furrown cultivation, are visible as earthworks on current Environment Agency lidar imagery and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

(SY 66809640) Md strip cultivation. In two pasture fields, on ground sloping to the west, is a series of five terraces parallel to the contours. Well pronounced Md strip lynchets under pasture. <1>

(SY 667964). Medieval contour strip lynchets lie 700 yds north of Forston and are arranged in two end-on furlong blocks. <2>

Reduced by ploughing to inconspicuous rounded scarps. <3>

The features, along with possible areas of ridge and furrown cultivation, are visible as earthworks on current Environment Agency lidar imagery, where they appear to extend slightly northwards along the flank of a post medieval water meadow (MDO48569). They were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project. <5>

<1> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, RCHME Ms file (Unpublished document). SDO19490.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 72 (Monograph). SDO146.

'(28) Cultivation Remains. The open fields of Charminster lay N. of the R. Frome and W. of the R. Cerne. Parts of them, in the area of Haydon Hill, were enclosed by agreement in 1587 (S. & D.N. & Q., XIII, 1912-13, 162-70); the rest, divided into three large open fields and two smaller ones, were finally enclosed in 1837 (Map and Award, 1837, D.C.R.O.). … The settlement of Forston had open fields but nothing is known of their enclosure. Contour strip lynchets of these fields lie 700 yds. N. of Forston (667964); they are arranged in two end-on furlong blocks. The open fields of Pulston were enclosed before 1770 (Map of Pulston Farm by I. Taylor, 1770, photo-copy in D.C.R.O.).'

<2.1> Royal Air Force, 09-MAR-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2475 4122-23 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20012.

<3> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 01-OCT-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452893 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<5> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Oct 24 2024 4:53PM