Monument record MDO31502 - Historic field boundaries or drainage ditches, Woolgarston Farm, Corfe castle

Linear and curvilinear banks and ditches are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs of fields to the west of Woolgarston Farm, Corfe Castle. They appear to respect the modern field pattern and are considered likely to be the remains of historic field boundaries or drainage ditches.

(Area centred SY 97988144) Lynchet - like slopes. <1>

No air photographs available but the site is probably associated with the medieval settlements of Woolgarston (SY 982814) or Little Woolgarston (SY 977815). <2>

The steep south-facing hillslopes in this area have been disected by shallow north - south dry valleys; this has resulted in a sharply undulating landscape. The indicated area (1) falls within one of these valleys which has
short steep scarps in places. It terminates in a rounded end (at SY 9797988151) with pronounced scarps, probably the result of spring sapping. In short there are no evident traces of artificial slopes in the vicinity of the NGR <1> cited. <3>

Linear and curvilinear banks and ditches are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs of fields to the west of Woolgarston Farm, Corfe Castle <4-5>. They appear to respect the modern field pattern and are considered likely to be the remains of historic field boundaries or drainage ditches. These features were digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck mapping project. They are not visible on the most recent Google Earth images.

<1> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 09-AUG-52 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<2> Mead, Richard, Field Investigators Comments RPM, R1 RPM 22-JUN-81 (Unpublished document). SWX2301.

<3> Fletcher, Martin, Field investigator's comments MJF, F2 MJF 13-OCT-86 (Unpublished document). SDO17630.

<4> Royal Air Force, 10-FEB-1945, RAF 106G/LA/128 7063-64 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13673.

<5> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1821 2404-05 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13672.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 456768 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 16 2023 4:06PM