Monument record MWX416 - Strip field system, Portland

Strip fields. The Isle of Portland was a royal manor in 1086 and, despite division into five tithings, seems to have been organised with three-field or two-field rotation until communal management ceased in the 19th century. An original settlement was probably at Wakeham above Church Ope Cove and the open fields may have been expanded from a nucleus in this area. Despite destruction by quarrying, building and later cultivation, a rare pattern of strips, many of them still cultivated, survives over about 150 acres; these and others destroyed in recent years are shown with the local name lawn sheds on large scale 0.S. maps. The names of the open fields circa 1800 were south to north. South, Great West, Coomb, Droop or Windmill, East, Court or Little West, Inmosthay and King Barrow fields. On the Tithe Map of 1842 the open fields still covered an area of some 825 acres extending over much of the Island south of the Common. The West, East and Common Weares, the Common destroyed by the Verne Citadel and the extreme south tip of the Island served as pasture. Tenurial fragmentation due to the system of gravelkind appears in the Tithe Award for both arable and pasture land.

Surviving blocks of strip fields are as follows: (a) 12 acres around 680692, (b) 65 acres around 686693, (c) 15 acres around 693707, (d) 50 acres around 690713 and (e) 10 acres around 682715. See plan.

The arrangement of strips was mostly in furlongs butting at right angles. An exception is the continuous run of parallel strips extending for nearly a mile along the east side of block (b). Some furlongs have been bisected, and in the west part of block (b), but the half-lengths remain cultivated as separate strips. Parts of other furlongs have been walled while other, roughly square, walled fields show signs of former divisions into strips. The strips vary considerably in length, but rarely exceed 300 yds., and are from 10 yds. to 70 yds. in width. Most of them were curved, and in block (a) truncated strips, still nearly 400 yds. long, exhibit a reversed-S curve. Where least disturbed the strips are divided by grass baulks about 2 ft. wide. Lynchets up to 4 ft. high have built up on slopes, as in block (a), but even here some of the steep risers are capped by baulks where the plough has stopped short of the head of the lynchet. The strips, many of which are still cultivated, are mostly open-ended, but the plough now seems to turn largely within individual strips rather than to run out on a headland. Mere-stones, usually inscribed with capital initials and of apparently 19th-century date, are occasionally found in the arable fields, normally in the baulks at strip ends, as in block (b); others occur south west of block (a) where no strips survive. <2-3>

The extent and condition of the blocks of strip fields noted as surviving by RCHM (2) is as follows: a. Area as shown; these are the best-preserved strips on Portland. They are separated by baulks and lynchets up to 1.5m. High; most are in arable. B. Area as shown; the strip fields are especially well preserved north-west of the road, with lynchets up to 1.3m high; all are in arable. C. Area as shown; the fields are in grass and are separated by stone walls up to 1.5m. High. D. North of the line SY 68767130 to SY 69067140 the strip fields have been destroyed by building development. Those south prominent grass baulks survive. E. All the strip fields here have been destroyed by building development. F. Strip fields not mentioned by RCHM survive in an area west of Southwell covering an area of 18.0 ha., centred at SY 68247032. Some of these strips will soon be destroyed by building development. The best preserved in this area are centred at SY 68007032, where the grass baulks are 2.5m. To 3.0m. Wide and the lynchets 0.5m. To 1.0m. High. <4>

Portland provides the only surviving example in the south of England strip cultivation in Open Fields still in operation, with the strips or "lawns" separated by "baulks" or "lawn sheds" of unploughed turf. (Two areas of open fields scheduled, centred at SY 679692 and SY 686696 - see illustration). <5>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1962 (Map). SWX1540.

Lawn sheds (NAT) Stones (NAT) (shown at numerous positions on Portland) (Area SY 680692 & SY 685694) Field System (NR) (twice)

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

<2.1> Boswell E, 1833, Civil Divisions of Dorset (2nd Ed), p91-2 (Monograph). SWX8375.

<2.2> Drew C D, 1948, Open arable fields at Portland and elsewhere, p79-81 (Article in serial). SWX1668.

<2.3> Douch R, 1949, Customs and traditions of the Isle of Portland, Dorset,
map, 23:140 ff, p140-52 (Article in serial). SWX8377.

<2.4> Drew, J S, 1944, Early Account Rolls of Portland, Wyke and Elwell 1, p31-45 (Article in serial). SWX8378.

<2.5> Drew, J S, 1945, Early Account Rolls of Portland, Wyke and Elwell 2, p34-54 (Article in serial). SWX8379.

<3> Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England 3 12 77 83 (Scheduling record). SWX2126.

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 16-SEP-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Department of the Environment, Undated, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monument Record Form: Medieval field system (Unpublished document). SWX2128.

<6> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 451832 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 1 2024 8:44AM