Monument record MDO38405 - Undated trackways, Eype Down, Symondsbury

An extensive system of deeply incised trackway is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar imagery on Eype Down. They are located on the northern side of the Down, to the northwest of those described in records MDO3654 and 38404. The features were digitally plotted during the Marshwood Vale NMP.

(SY 441925) ".... in the parish of Symondsbury, there are three lines of entrenchment, which appear to be carried around the North side of Eype-Down; the only side, in fact, accessible from the interior...". <1>

Earthworks on the north slope of Eype Down consist of a series of four banks and ditches following roughly the 300ft contour. Probably a series of alternative trackways on the hillside, produced over a long period. <2>

Series of sunken tracks correctly described by Authority 2. They are situated on steep bracken-covered slopes and bear no dateable feature. <3>

An extensive system of deeply incised trackways is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar imagery on Eype Down <5-6>. They are located on the northern side of the Down, to the northwest of those described in records MDO3654 and 38404. The features were digitally plotted during the Marshwood Vale NMP, they are of uncertain origin.

<1> Warne, C, 1872, Ancient Dorset (2nd Edition), 258 (Monograph). SWX1971.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 239 (Monograph). SDO97.

<3> Swatridge, G C, Various, Field Investigators Comments GCS, F1 GCS 21-SEP-54 (Unpublished document). SWX1169.

<4> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 882978 (Index). SDO14738.

RCHME: Earthwork on Eype Down, Symondsbury, Dorset. 2 profiles at different scale

<5> Royal Air Force, 22-JAN-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 RP 3168-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO14702.

<6> Environment Agency, 2010, Lidar DSM, sy4492_dtm_1m.asc (Aerial Photograph). SDO13147.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 450234 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 28 2022 8:06AM