Monument record MDO1710 - Strip lynchet, Melcombe Horsey

An area of strip lynchets. There were formerly about 30 acres of strip fields some 600 yds NW of Bingham's Melcombe House, but they have now been destroyed. The remains of the medieval strip lynchets are visible as earthworks on RAF aerial photographs taken in 1947, whilst generally destroyed, several are still visible as low plough-levelled earthworks on lidar imagery. The features were digitally recorded during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

OS RECORDS

An area of strip lynchets. <1>

Areas centred 'A'. ST 76700245. 'B'. ST 76900242. 'C'. ST 77000225.

Area 'A' was under crops and not closely investigated. Only faint parallel crop marks were noted.

Area 'B' - pronounced grass and partly tree covered parallel strip lynchets. There is a slightly raised bank along the top of many of the lynchets.

Area 'C' - Weak parallel field banks, grass covered. <2>

There were formerly about 30 acres of strip fields some 600 yds NW of Bingham's Melcombe House, but they have now been destroyed. <3>

The remains of the medieval strip lynchets are visible as earthworks on RAF aerial photographs taken in 1947 (RAF 1947), whilst generally destroyed, several are still visible as low plough-levelled earthworks on lidar imagery (Environment Agency 2023). The features were digitally recorded during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

<1> RCHM Mss file (Unpublished document). SWX2467.

<2> Rigg, J, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments JR, F1 JR 19-AUG-55 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<3> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 171 (Monograph). SDO136.

<3.1> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 3106 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17623.

<3.2> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 3107-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17631.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 201827 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<5> Environment Agency, 15-DEC-2023, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO20691.

Record last edited

Dec 9 2025 6:14PM