SDO21745 - Higher Houghton, Dorset. Aerial Investigation and Mapping of Higher Houghton, Dorset

A woodland management plan is [2022–23] being developed for the Higher Houghton area in Dorset. The area includes well-preserved archaeological remains, some of which are scheduled, but which need to be better understood to provide advice on the planned landscape-scale wood-pasture creation and restoration scheme. The Higher Houghton Aerial Investigation and Mapping project was designed to provide a baseline record of the extent of the archaeological features and their significance, enabling the definition of constraint areas for wood-pasture creation and potentially to inform scheduled monument record revision. The Aerial Investigation and Mapping results, augmented with walk-over survey of selected locations within the study area, confirmed the overall excellent preservation of archaeological earthworks but also showed that these monuments are more extensive than previously thought. At least one previously unidentified Bronze Age round barrow has been mapped. Iron Age/Roman settlement sites and their field systems within the study area are likely linked by networks of trackways. Two known medieval deer parks have been fully mapped, and a previously unrecorded post-medieval rabbit warren has been identified, as well as other medieval/post-medieval features including cultivation remains and extractive pits. Elements of the Grade II*-listed Milton Abbey Park, designed by Lancelot Brown, were also recorded.