Monument record MDO854 - Prehistoric field system, Cheselbourne

<1> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2 (Monograph). SDO136.

‘GROUP (44): PLUSH HILL AND LYSCOMBE (Piddletrenthide, Cheselbourne and Melcombe Horsey. Map opposite). 'Celtic' fields are detectable within about 800 acres from the area of Plush Hill on the W. (ST 712006– 717021) to Bowden's Hill, Melcombe Horsey at N.E. (741024) and the Kingcombe area of Cheselbourne at S.E. (747004). They lie on Lower and Middle Chalk between 360 ft. and 800 ft. O.D. The pattern is fragmentary, but was probably continuous except on the high ground around the N. half of Lyscombe Bottom, where the main surviving earthworks are an incomplete hill-fort on Nettlecombe Tout and a number of dykes. Other dykes, later than some of the 'Celtic' fields among which they lie, are S. of this. There are two settlements, Piddletrenthide (44) on Plush Hill, probably associated with 'Celtic' fields, and Melcombe Horsey (11), closely associated with a well-preserved small area of fields. Two other settlements are indicated by occupational debris (Piddletrenthide (41) and Cheselbourne (21)). There are at least four sections of double-lynchet track, three connected with settlement. A large angular enclosure, Piddletrenthide (65), is linked to the 'Celtic' field complex and may be contemporary, but the small enclosure Piddletrenthide (64), totally destroyed without any occupational material being reported, was probably later. Only the more easterly part of the group is illustrated.

In the W. of the group the 'Celtic' fields on Plush Hill, though now partly pasture, have all been reploughed. Narrow rig lies on strip lynchets W. of settlement Piddletrenthide (44), where there is no trace of 'Celtic' fields. Elsewhere around the settlement some low 'Celtic' scarps have been left, occasionally emphasised by lines of scrub growing on them. At N.W. of the area, where the old road from Lyscombe to Plush cuts across 'Celtic' fields on steeper ground, the scarps are prominent, but there are no certainly complete fields visible here or in the Thorncombe area further E. Numerous roughly circular sinkings, called 'pit dwellings' on some old maps, are chalk pits. Two mounds, probably barrows, Piddletrenthide (55) and (56), apparently lie at 'Celtic' field angles.

In the E. half of the group two sections of a double-lynchet trackway, now destroyed, on Pond Eweleaze, E. of Thorncombe, ran from 72600087 S.E. to 73050057. The northern section skirted Romano-British occupation remains at 72590092, and a gap in the lines of track corresponded with the position of further occupation remains, formerly including earthworks, at about 727008, Piddletrenthide (41), below enclosure (65), (F.21 540/ RAF/1775: 0221–2). Further E. 'Celtic' fields are still detectable over 200 acres on the S.W. and S.E. sides of Lyscombe Bottom, the ground above, and in the re-entrant valley below Hog Hill at the S.E. of the area (742013). They formerly existed on Bowden's Hill E. and N. of settlement Melcombe Horsey (11) and they possibly extended N. to Nettlecombe Tout, but there is no trace on the N.W. side of Lyscombe Hill, between dykes Piddletrenthide (45) and (47). There are outlying traces on Nordon Hill (753028).

There are numerous earthworks, many related to 'Celtic' fields, on the high ground surrounding the Bottom. The complex of dykes is discussed below. Double-lynchet tracks, integrated with fields, drop from the high ground N.W. and N.E. towards the gap by Lyscombe Farm, N. of the site of Romano-British occupation (Cheselbourne (21)). They have been in use in recent and, probably, in mediaeval times— Cheselbourne (2) being the site of a chapel. The E. section of track ran through settlement Melcombe Horsey (11), itself in part probably lying on the site of former 'Celtic' fields (see plan, p. 173). The 100-acre floor of the Bottom has probably been arable for a very long time (with narrow-rig marking 19th-century ploughing on the sides towards the S.), and occupation is only indicated by Romano-British debris from S. of the farm (Cheselbourne (21)).

The 5 acres of fields lining the W. side of the track S.W. of settlement Melcombe Horsey (11) are the best-preserved. They vary from 2/5 acre to just under 1 acre in area, though there are indications that they include fields enlarged by the breakingdown of former boundaries. Their lynchets increase in height down the N.W. slope; one example increases from 3½ ft. to 6½ ft. The W. section of track was probably blocked by dyke Cheselbourne (22), near which it is 10 ft. wide and bounded by lynchets 3 ft. high uphill and 4 ft. high downhill.

The pattern of fields, now destroyed, in the valley S.W. of Hog Hill differed in the S. and the N. half. In the S. a regular series of lynchets about 2 ft. high crossed the valley bottom at intervals of some 50 yds. Low mounds 15 ft. to 30 ft. across lay on three of these lynchets in the middle of the bottom (cf. Dorset II, Ancient Field Group (15)). Slight banks continued the line of the lynchets up the E. side only, against a slope of 16°. To the N. of this area the valley bottom, some 10 acres, was enclosed by a low bank, 6 ft. across, with uphill ditch cutting over widely spaced cross-valley lynchets which rose up both sides of the valley on slopes of over 19°. A continuation of the E. bank and ditch partly blocked the valley bottom at the S., but there was no trace of it in disturbed ground below the steep head of the valley.
The fields as a whole date almost certainly from the Early Iron Age at latest (cf. dyke Melcombe Horsey (15)), at least to a late point in the Roman period, as indicated by the settlements and by finds in the fields (e.g. Dorset Procs., 76 (1956), 76). The only traces of strip cultivation, on the E. shoulder of Bowden's Hill, as high as 800 ft. O.D., are mediaeval or later.

The concentration of dykes is rare, but has parallels, for instance near Cold Kitchen Hill, Brixton Deverill (V.C.H., Wiltshire, 1. 1) where, again, Chalk ridges partly surround lower ground. The form of the dykes is varied. Relationship to the other earthworks is not always certain. Two cross-ridge dykes, Melcombe Horsey (13) and (14), face away from the incomplete hill-fort on Nettlecombe Tout (Melcombe Horsey (12)) and are joined to each other by a high scarp with a ditch at its foot for part of the way. The total area contained between this, the shoulder of the hill at the 800 ft. contour, and the hillfort, is about 70 acres. Dykes Cheselbourne (22) and (23), Piddletrenthide (46) and (47), and Melcombe Horsey (15) have ditches towards the hill-fort, i.e. uphill, as has the slight bank, conceivably ancient, between Piddletrenthide (46) and (45); but (45) has its ditch on the side away from the hill-fort. With the possible exception of Melcombe Horsey (15), the siting and size of the dykes indicate that they are not defensive. Cheselbourne (22) probably blocks a double-lynchet track, but dense scrub and disturbance prevent certainty about this. Three dykes, Melcombe Horsey (15) and Cheselbourne (22) and (23), are built on or across 'Celtic' field lynchets. Such relationships indicate a relatively late date for these particular dykes in their present form, but since, as is the case with (23), their lines are in places continued by lesser banks and scarps, it is possible that the dykes themselves represent the local building-up of parts of earlier boundary lines. Banks and ditches running down steep slopes from the ends of dykes, continuing dyke Piddletrenthide (47) to both S.E. and N.W., and continuing Melcombe Horsey (15) to the W. (not illustrated), could be later. However this may be, there is no doubt that the area was eventually divided into blocks by long boundary lines. The dykes unrelated to ridge-tops, Melcombe Horsey (16) and (17), and Cheselbourne (23), emphasise this. The first, with extension S.E., could be ⅓ mile long; the second, 500 yds. long, running between the heads of two valleys, is continued N. for over 300 yds. by a long scarp, while the third is continued by a scarp up to 5 ft. or more in height, connected with the N.E. angle of enclosure Piddletrenthide (65).
Air photographs: CPE/UK 1974: 2370, 4364–8; CPE/UK 1934: 2097, 3180–1, 5180–1; Cambridge University Collections, verticals K. 17, E.149–151, 154–6, 160, 161, 163; obliques NK 90, AMN 53–6, ANF 39 and 41.’

Record last edited

Jul 27 2016 12:29PM