Monument record MDO41180 - Probable post medieval extractive pits, Canford Heath, Poole

A string of post medieval extractive pits on Canford Heath are visible on 1940s aerial photographs. The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

A string of post medieval extractive pits on Canford Heath are visible on 1940s aerial photographs (1).

The features comprise several variously sized irregular scarped depressions, which are typically very shallow in depth and criss-crossed in places by paths and trackways; possibly vehicle tracks. Some of the features have very straight cut edges but the majority are irregular and shallow scrapes. One D-shaped ditched and banked feature in the south of the group may be quite a early extractive pit as it is overlain by a historic field boundary present on the OS 1st Edition map (2).

The features are presumed to be associated with post medieval extraction on Canford Heath ; the heathland on which the features are situated in 1945 (part of Canford Heath) is typically scarred by widescale post medieval extraction, which is characteristically shallow but with some areas of deeper extraction also present.

The site is still open heath on current Google Earth imagery. The features are generally no longer visible where under cover of trees but some scars are still visible on open ground. The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP.

<1> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RP 3255-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16029.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

Record last edited

Jan 6 2020 10:46AM