Monument record MDO8372 - Strip lynchets above Seacombe Bottom, Worth Matravers

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 2 (Monograph). SDO149.

‘(31) Strip Lynchets (982776, 983772), much damaged, covered in narrow rig and crossed by a dry-stone wall, lie on the W.-facing slope above Seacombe Bottom S. and S.W. of Eastington Farm. Above them on the spur top are further very faint traces of strip fields and remains of others lie 700 yds. S. of the farm. (R.A.F. V.A.P. CPE/UK 1821: 3400–1.)’

<2> Papworth, M D J, Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1983, Isle of Purbeck Survey, IOP 263 (Index). SDO147.

‘Site lies in permanent pasture to the S. of Eastington Farm. The field W. of the farm is regularly ploughed. RAF/VAP/1821:3400-1. AP/DCC /1972/ 5585 212182. OS SY97NE56. 7/7/C.’

<3> Papworth M, 1994, Eastington, Acton, Westwood, Wilkswood, New Barn, Corfe Castle Estate, Wessex Region, 48 (Unpublished document). SWX1388.

Two strip lynchets one above the other are visible on air photograph RAF CPE/UK 1821 3399. They represent the modification of a steep slope for arable farming during the medieval period. Land hunger was at its peak in the 13th and early 14th centuries and during this time marginal land was converted to arable. The lynchets remain clear as earthworks on the ground following the contours at the south end of the ridge between Seacombe and Abbascombe. They range in height from 0.4m – 1.5m with a step 18m wide between the risers of the lynchets. They are probably associated with the lynchets 112,075. This land was pasture in 1585 (Treswell) and 1775 (Woodward).

Record last edited

Oct 5 2021 9:32AM