Monument record MDO7987 - Strip fields, south of Herston, Swanage

SZ 017786. Some 2 acres of truncated medieval strips; now only 100 yards long, run across a gentle-east-facing slope immediately south of Herston. <1-2>

An evaluation by Wessex Archaeology in 1996, identified the remains of the strip cultivation. This was prior to the housing development and their current state is not known. <3>

The area of medieval or post medieval ridge and furrow is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of 1945 <4> . The features are visible over an area measuring approximately 170 m by 70 m and consist of two blocks with ridges oriented north-south. The area has now been built over. These features were digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 03-AUG-51 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 297 (Monograph). SDO150.

<3> Hutcheson, A, 1996, Land Adjacent to Bell Street, Swanage, Dorset. Archaeological Assessment and Evaluation (Unpublished document). SWX8551.

'The remains of the medieval or post-medieval strip field cultivation, though clearly visible, are not very well-preserved, remaining as slight rises (old ground surface) between truncated hollows. However, the remains do not appear to have been eroded over the last thirty years in the period since the Royal Commission's survey.'

<4> Royal Air Force, 20-MAR-1945, RAF 106G/LA187 3001-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13416.

<5> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 457477 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 26 2024 12:07PM