Monument record MDO2593 - Medieval settlement of Elston, New Barn, Sydling St Nicholas

Earthworks in the form of low banks and scarps forming a series of irregular enclosures and hollow ways. This monument, formerly described on Ordnance Survey maps as 'British Settlement', is now thought to be the remains of the medieval settlement of Elston. Linear and curvilinear banks and scarps are visible as earthworks on 1940's aerial photographs and current Lidar imagery to the northeast of Sydling St Nicholas. The features are probably the upstanding remains of a deserted medieval settlement of Elston. They were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Frome AIM project.

The OS 1st Edition map <1> records the earthworks as the site of a 'British Settlement' but this is erroneous.

Earthworks of uncertain period, south and south-west of New Barn, consist of a series of low banks and scarps forming irregular fields or enclosures with hollow-ways leading towards the middle of the site on the north and west, and a third running across the south end of the works. <3-4>

ST 635008. The settlement remains at New Barn comprising rectangular platforms, banks and linear works are recorded <3> as of uncertain age. They are the deserted Md village remains of Elston, a hamlet recorded in the place name "Ellston Hill" and elsewhere. <5> <8>

Area centered ST 63470066. The identifiable remains of Elston DMV, situated along an E terrace of Sydling Water, cover about 3 hectares of pasture land. A central portion of the site is now under plough. Field and enclosure banks average 0.5m high and are generally well preserved. Possible building platforms and scoops of irregular form survive at the W end of the site. A surface concentration of stone and coarse unglazed Medieval sherds in ploughland at ST 63500065 suggests former dwelling sites in this area. The three hollow-ways are well defined, that on the W being the most dominant, it here cuts sinuously across the terrace slope and assumes a width of up to 11.0m and depth of 2.0m, suggesting use until quite recent times. There is no associated rig and furrow to be seen on the ground or on OS Aps. Earthworks surveyed at 1:2500. <7>

Linear and curvilinear banks and scarps are visible as earthworks on 1940’s aerial photographs and current Lidar imagery to the northeast of Sydling St Nicholas (10, 11). The features are probably the upstanding remains of a deserted medieval settlement of Elston. The features visible on aerial photographs dated to 1947 appear to comprise a series of banked holloways and terraces (10). This includes a large curvilinear scarped terrace with its western boundary edging the crest of the slope above the Sydling Water valley to the west (10, 11).

In addition to these are a series of broad curvilinear banked boundaries to the east and south that are probably field boundaries; visible on current Lidar imagery (11). These may be of medieval date and contemporary with the medieval settlement; they are on the same alignment as the adjacent historic field pattern, so this seems plausible. They could however include older features of potentially prehistoric date. The field system appears to continue on the south side of the road to the south.

The features underlie a modern rifle range MDO43099) that appears to be falling into disuse by 1947 (10). They were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Frome AIM project.

The features are still largely visible on Google Earth imagery (11), with some under tree cover.

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1903 (Map). SWX1540.

(ST 634007) British Settlement (NR)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 234 (Monograph). SDO97.

'(19) Earthworks, S. and S.W. of New Barn nearly 1 m. N.N.E. of the church, consist of a series of low banks and scarps forming irregular fields or enclosures with hollow-ways leading towards the middle of the site on the N. and W. and a third running across the S. end of the works. The site is at the bottom of the valley and its period is uncertain.'

<4> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-47, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2379-80 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17066.

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1957, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1956, 81 (Serial). SDO56.

‘The medieval hamlet of Elston, Sydling St. Nicholas.

The rescue of an Enclosure Award plan of the parish enabled Colonel Drew to locate the mediaeval hamlet of Elston, to which he was able to find documentary references, at what is now New Barn (ST 635008), Sydling St. Nicholas. It is evident that the earthworks marked on the Ordnance maps as “British Settlement” but listed (no. 19) in R.C.H.M. Dorset, I, p. 234, as of uncertain period, relate to the hamlet.

The name survives in Elston Hill to the north of New Barn.’

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

(ST 63610068) Earthworks (NR)

<7> Stone, J W, Field Investigators Comments JWS, F1 JWS 11-SEP-76 (Unpublished document). SDO11902.

<7.1> Ordnance Survey, OS/74 088/141 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18856.

<8> Unpublished revision RCHME Dorset I (West) Undated (Sydling St Nicholas file), No 19 (21.9.1976) (Unpublished document). SDO13182.

<9> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/088 RCHME Inventory: Dorset I (West) and Revision (Unpublished document). SDO17367.

<10> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-47, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2379-80 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17066.

<11> Environment Agency, XX-XXX-2019, LIDAR Environment Agency Composite LAST RETURN (Photograph). SDO16524.

<12> National Record of the Historic Environment, 199261 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 28 2025 2:12PM