Monument record MDO41068 - Possible medieval field boundaries, flood defences, Knighton Farm Golf Course, Poole

Substantial banked linear features at what is now Knighton Farm Golf Course are visible on 1940s aerial photographs and on current Lidar imagery. The features may be field boundaries and/or flood defences of possible medieval or post medieval origin or possibly boundary banks associated with Canford Magna medieval deer park. The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

Substantial banked linear features at what is now Knighton Farm Golf Course are visible on 1940s aerial photographs and on current Lidar imagery (1-3).

The features comprise a broken line of banked earthworks that follow much of the edge of a large neck of land bordered on both sides by a loop of the River Stour at Canford Magna. The eastern section of bank is recorded on the OS 1st Edition map as a continuous earthwork that runs south above the eastern riverbank for around 620m before turning west for a further 160m; the earthwork forms part of the pattern of historic enclosure on this neck of land (4). The earthworks along this eastern edge are visible only as short sections of broken bank by 1946 (2).

At the northeast end of the neck of land there are additional banks and scarps that create or edge a series of low terraces above the river. The terraces contain the traces of historic cultivation marks, possibly those of medieval ridge and furrow (MDO41070). Some of the banked features are also associated with ditches that form part of an extensive drainage system (MDO41069) across the site; probably of post medieval origin. There are further sections of banked linears along the western edge of the site; these are situated to the west of the main length of banked earthwork and run broadly parallel to it. The function of some of these additional banks is not clear.

It is possible that the features are historic field boundaries and/or flood defences of possible medieval or post medieval origin. The scale and extent of the banks may alternatively indicate an association with Canford Magna medieval deer park (MDO6865) but it is recorded that no park embankment has been identified so this is less likely.

The site is largely part of Knighton Farm Golf Course on current Google Earth imagery but the northeast area is still open ground and the features are partially visible. They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP.

<1> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RS 4159-60 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16009.

<2> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RS 4160-1 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16010.

<3> Environment Agency, xxx-xxx-2015, Geomatics Lidar DSM 50cm (Aerial Photograph). SDO16012.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

Record last edited

Jan 6 2020 11:40AM