Monument record MDO1879 - Prehistoric field system in Brimstone Bottom, Owermoigne

(Centred at SY 772825) In the field immediately east of Brimstone Bottom Barn and copse are a few massive lynchets, of short length and irregular outline, probably because of the irregular contours of the hillside. In the pasture east of the parish boundary are faint traces of lynchets and field banks. The system appears to be of Iron Age/Romano-British type. <1>

BRIMSTONE BOTTOM (SY 770825-775826) Owermoigne and Chaldon Herring. Fragmentary and partly quarried 'Celtic' fields covered about 20 acres between 300 ft. and 400 ft. above O.D., on chalk, along the steep N-facing slope above Brimstone Bottom. Surviving lynchets are high, one scrap reaching 35 ft. <2>

This field system, centred at SY 773825, covering approximately 2.0 ha., remains as described. <3>

The prehistoric field system described above in <2> is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs at Brimstone Bottom. The earthworks consist of curvilinear boundaries formed of narrow banks, visible over an area measuring approximately 275 m by 80 m. <5-7> These features were digitally plotted as part of the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 17-DEC-54 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<1.1> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 F20 4320-21 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12924.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 628 (Monograph). SDO150.

'Group (14): Brimstone Bottom (SY 78 SE; 770825-775826), Owermoigne and Chaldon Herring. Fragmentary and partly quarried 'Celtic' fields covered about 20 acres between 300 ft. and 400 ft. above O.D., on chalk, along the steep N.-facing slope above Brimstone Bottom. Surviving lynchets are high, one scarp reaching 35 ft. (R.A.F. V.A.P. CPE/UK 1821: 4439-41.)'

<3> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F2 JGB 22-JUL-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<3.1> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1821 4439-41 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17436.

<4> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<5> Dorset County Council, XX-XXX-2002, Dorset CC Vertical Digital Photo Tile (Aerial Photograph). SDO13248.

<6> Dorset County Council, XX-XXX-2005, Dorset CC Vertical Digital Photo Tile (Aerial Photograph). SDO13151.

<7> Dorset County Council, XX-XXX-2009, Dorset CC Vertical Digital Photo Tile (Aerial Photograph). SDO13314.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454126 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 8 2021 1:58PM