Monument record MDO31540 - Historic trackways, Corfe Common, Corfe Castle

An extensive group of linear routeways are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs of Corfe Common, Corfe Castle. They are considered likely to be historic in date.

Hollow-ways. Groups of hollow-ways fanning out from West and East streets and the Townsend track. <1>

Hollow - ways occur in four locations on the edge of Corfe Common. Two of these groups clearly pre-date the adjacent tarmac roads offering a variety of routes down the steep natural slopes. One group of well defined hollow - ways is bisected by the 1768 toll road to Kingston. The fourth group of hollow-ways are part of the network of routes which cross the Common.

Linear routeways which cross Corfe Common are most probably earthworks created by stone hauliers. They occur mostly in three dense groups. The earthworks are narrow, often deep cut linear earthworks which directly cross the steep ridge on the Common using the Bronze Age round barrows as way-marks. The origin of these routes are uncertain but they may date from the medieval period. Corfe Castle town and its extensive links with the stone industry especially the Purbeck Marbelling workshops is the reason why the stone was pulled across such difficult terrain. <2-3>

An extensive group of linear routeways are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs of Corfe Common, Corfe Castle <3-10>. They are
considered likely to be historic in date. These features were digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck mapping project.

<1> Papworth, M, 1993, Corfe Village, Common and Vineyard Farm, Corfe Castle Estate, Wessex Region (Unpublished document). SWX8224.

<2> Fletcher, Martin, Field investigator's comments MJF, 20 Dec 2003 (Unpublished document). SDO17630.

<3> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AF00137 (Index). SDO14738.

Corfe Common, Dorset

<5> Royal Air Force, 14-MAR-1945, RAF 106G/LA/194 259-60 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13674.

<5> Royal Air Force, 27-MAR-1945, RAF 106G/LA/200 1061-62 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13681.

<6> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1821 2406-07 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13679.

<7> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1821 2408-09 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13656.

<8> Royal Air Force, 03-AUG-1961, RAF 543/1392 0017-18 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13683.

<9> Royal Air Force, 18-FEB-1970, RAF 58/0254 0022 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13680.

<10> Ordnance Survey, 19-APR-1982, OS 82047 427-428 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13682.

<11> Dorset County Council, 2002, VAP (Aerial Photograph). SDO13141.

<12> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1391012 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<13> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1391014 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 9 2023 2:08PM