Monument record MDO41619 - 19th or early 20th Century boundaries and trackways, Corfe Hills, Corfe Mullen

Banked and ditched linear features at Corfe Hills, Corfe Mullen, are visible on 1940s aerial photographs. The features may be boundaries and trackways of late 19th or early 20th Century date, possibly of military origin. They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

Banked and ditched linear features at Corfe Hills, Corfe Mullen, are visible on 1940s aerial photographs (2).

The features comprise three parallel linear banks (or walls?) arranged broadly parallel to each other on a N-S alignment and between 9.8m and 14m apart. These features are linked along their south end by a further linear bank, thereby forming two to three long linear enclosures. Additional to these is a further angled linear bank to the east, alongside which runs a curving linear ditch, possibly a trackway; the SE end of this ditched linear corresponds with the corner of a historic field boundary recorded on the OS 1st Edition map (3).

The features are of uncertain date and function but may be boundaries and trackways of late 19th or early 20th Century date, possibly of military origin (perhaps a rifle range?).

The site is under housing on current Google Earth imagery and the features are no longer visible. They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

<1> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RS 4250-1 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16182.

<2> Royal Air Force, 20-OCT-47, RAF/CPE/UK/2370 V 5051-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16181.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

Record last edited

Sep 4 2018 9:06AM