Monument record MDO2191 - Bardolfeston, Puddletown

The 6.0 ha. Of the surviving and scheduled part of Bardolfeston deserted Medieval village are unusually well preserved (see plan). Some 27 houses and buildings are identifiable alongside or near the main NE to SW hollow way, which is from 0.5m. to 2.0m. deep.

Another dozen buildings in the western part of the area, detached from any recognisable roadway, incorporate one distinct unit group at SY 76519469. The buildings vary in appearance from levelled platforms to turf covered banks up to 0.6m. High. Limitations imposed by the scale preclude the portrayal of some slight subdivisions single and opposing entrance gaps.

Numerous rectilinear closes, from .03 to 0.2 ha. In extent, are normally enclosed by low banks or scarps 0.2m. To 0.5m. High. Occasionally there are traces of subdivision and, rarely, internal buildings.

The village clearly extended further to the S. into an area now occupied by water-meadows, and also to the W., at present arable. The traditional position of the church is perpetuated by the name 'Church Knap' on the O.S. 25" 1955 and by a scarp at SY 76629455.

The R.C.H.M. record a rectangular area about 50m. To the N. and have a siting symbol for the possible church at SY 76609461, but all features have now been obliterated by the spreading of upcast from an adjacent and newly constructed wildfowl pond. Surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <3>

The remains of the deserted medieval village of Bardolfeston are visible as earthworks on lidar imagery of 2010 to the north of Athelhampton. The earthworks comprise numerous building platforms arranged around ditched trackways and boundary banks. The village remains are visible over an area measuring approximately 420 m by 250 m. <5> This feature was digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred SY 766947) Deserted Medieval Village of Bardolfeston (site of) (NAT)

<2> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 229-30 (Monograph). SDO136.

'(21) SETTLEMENT REMAINS (766947) of the deserted village of Bardolfeston lie on the N. side of the Piddle valley between 150 ft. and 230 ft. above O.D., on Chalk and River Gravel, just over ½ m. N.E. of (1).
The village, together with (22) and Athelhampton (above, p. 8), may well be included in Domesday among the various entries for 'Piddle'. The uncertainty of the Domesday identification makes it impossible to ascertain the recorded population of 1086. Only seven taxpayers are recorded in the 1327 and 1333 Subsidy Rolls and, since the village had had a church and was formerly the nucleus of a separate parish (Hutchins II, 616), the 14th-century population figures, together with the earthwork remains, indicate that the settlement was already declining at this date; nevertheless there may still have been people living there in the 16th century, for it paid a subsidy of 18s. 4d. in 1512 (S. & D., N. & Q., III, (1892–3), 193). From a Chancery Deposition of 1636 (P.R.O., C21/C17/21) it appears that the settlement was completely deserted by the 17th century; it is not recorded in the Hearth Tax returns.
The remains, covering 15 acres, are well preserved, but the village certainly extended further S. and has been destroyed in the construction of water-meadows; there has also been extensive quarrying in the N.E. part of the site (Plate 183).
The most prominent feature is a broad hollow-way running S.W.–N.E. across the site; it is up to 40 ft. wide, and is 6 ft. deep at the N.E. end. For most of its length the way is flanked by house-sites, rectangular areas measuring from 20 ft. by 12 ft. to 40 ft. by 18 ft.; they are bounded by banks or walls of flint rubble, up to 2 ft. high. Most houses had opposed entrances and at least two of them have traces of a scarped subdivision on the uphill side of the cross-passage. Eleven certain house-sites exist and the remains of four platforms along the hollow-way may represent other houses. Behind several of the sites are irregular areas or 'yards', within some of which are further platforms or scoops, perhaps the sites of outbuildings.
The hollow-way and houses lie diagonally across a feature which may represent an earlier stage of development; it consists of a roughly L-shaped area, partly bounded by a low bank, having within it traces of subdivisions bounded by scarps and banks.
According to local tradition the Church stood to the S. of the village, in the present water-meadows. Some 50 yds. S. of the earthworks there is a roughly rectangular area, 30 yds. by 70 yds., orientated S.E.–N.W., around which the water-meadow channels have been laid.

<3> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 11-MAR-81 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1994, Medieval Village Research Group Index, PRN 436 (Index). SDO16386.

<5> Environment Agency, 2010, Lidar DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO13148.

<6> Pan Government Agreement, 20-SEP-2008, PGA SY7694 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13359.

<7> English Heritage, 15-FEB-2005, NMR SY 7694/6-16 NMR 23798/15-24 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13360.

<8> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/096 RCHME Inventory: Dorset III (Central) (Unpublished document). SDO17384.

<9> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 880979 (Index). SDO14738.

RCHME: Bardolfestston Settlement Remains, Dorset. The settlement name is spelt 'Bardolphston' on the survey.Bibliographic References : 1) Pt 2, Monument (21)

<10> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB76/07710 (Index). SDO14738.

PLAN OF DESERTED VILLAGE SHOWING A LARGE HOLLOW-WAY RUNNING SW-NE WITH HOUSE SITES ON EITHER SIDE. DESERTED BY C17

<11> Historic England, Historic England Archive, FL00494 (Index). SDO14738.

Bardolfeston Deserted Medieval Village, Puddletown, Dorset

<12> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454828 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 25 2023 7:55AM