Monument record MDO3504 - Medieval settlement remains at Winterborne Tomson, Anderson

The remains of medieval settlement covering around ten acres next to and to the south of the present hamlet of Winterborne Tomson. Though rather disturbed in places by quarrying, earthworks of a bank with external ditch, at least two house platforms, and traces of plot boundaries within the settlement have been identified. The extensive remains were digitally recorded during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM from lidar imagery.

Area of indistinct earthworks and ground disturbance at SY 886973 is probably associated with the former settlement. <2>

The settlement remains, centred at SY 88479734, are visible over 240 metres as a fragmentary line of banked and scarped closes some 25.0 by 20.0 metres, and averaging 0.3 metres in height. One of the house platforms at SY 88479734 measures 5.2 by 14.7 metres and 0.5 metres high, and is in poor condition. Another at SY 88547933, is a little more than an indentation some 16.0 by 5.0 metres. A possible third is at SY 88409731. A hollow way lies north of the houses, but its uniformity suggests it is probably later than the houses. Accompanying closes end on the remains of a bank, 5.4 metres wide and up to 0.8 metres high, but with no ditch. Both ends terminate on extensive gravel workings which have also affected the closes. (See air photographs <2> and <3>).

In the field west of the Church, (SY 89 NE 29) at SY 88429745, there are the probable remains of small fields averaging 37.0 by 17.0 metres, with banks and scarps up to 0.6 metres in height. There are no platforms, and disturbances visible on air photographs immediately to the south of a wide field drain, are small gravel pits. Narrow rig and furrow mentioned by <1> at SY 884977, north of the Church (SY 89 NE 29) and visible on air photographs <2> is now ploughed out, as is that previously centred at SY 887977 <4.1> in the field to the east. Closes and buildings surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. <4>

The extensive remains of the deserted settlement were digitally recorded during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM from lidar imagery. The bank and ditched linear features include field boundaries, house platforms and plot boundaries. They cover an area of over 20 hectares in field surrounding Winterborne Tomson hamlet. <6>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 8 (Monograph). SDO146.

'(6) SETTLEMENT REMAINS (884973), formerly part of Winterborne Tomson village, cover some 10 acres immediately S. and S.W. of (2). The settlement is one of several unidentified Winterbornes in Domesday Book. Eyton (p. 122) suggests that it and Anderson together composed the manor of the Count of Mortain (D.B. Vol. I, f. 79b) with a combined recorded population of only six. Tomson is not recorded in the 1327 or 1333 Subsidy Rolls, but since the parish was exempt from tax in 1428 the population must have been fewer than ten (Feudal Aids, 1284-1431, Vol. II, 97); it was granted a tax reduction on account of poverty in 1435 (P.R.O., E/179/103/79). The remains, which are bounded by a bank 1½ ft. high and an external ditch, have been extensively damaged by quarrying, but there are at least two well-marked house platforms and fragmentary closes.'

<2> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 2128-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18285.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 18-APR-1980, OS 80/021 170-1 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18286.

<4> Attrill, N J, Field Investigators Comments NJA, F1 NJA 02-JUN-81 (Unpublished document). SDO14743.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1994, Medieval Village Research Group Index, PRN 470 (Index). SDO16386.

<4.1> Hooper, Mr, Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments: Mr Hooper, farmer Tomson Farm (Verbal communication). SDO18287.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455795 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<6> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Jun 24 2023 6:53PM