Monument record MDO4380 - Enclosure at Foxpound Plantation, Milborne St Andrew

An enclosure on the southern slope of a broad ridge, formed by a bank and external ditch. In 1970 the bank was reported as being around 2 feet high and the ditch 2½ feet deep. The site of this enclosure is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar imagery and was digitally recorded during the Dorset Upper Cern and Piddle AIM Project.

SY 817969 Earthwork south east of Foxpound. Scheduled". <3>

SY 81729693. The enclosure is generally as described by RCHM <2>. There is no trace of the circular depression in the centre. The bank is 1.6 metres above the ditch at its maximum. The second enclosure referred to by Warne may be that at SY 81449660 (SY 89 NW 89 ). Resurveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <4>

The site of this enclosure is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar imagery <9, 10>; it was digitally recorded during the Dorset Upper Cern and Piddle AIM Project. It is defined by an inner bank and outer ditch with an entrance midway along its southwestern side. Its overall dimensions are 55m by 42m.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1968 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY 81709695) Enclosure (NR)

<2> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 182 (Monograph). SDO136.

‘(38) Enclosure (81709695), on the S. slope of a broad ridge, 100 yds. S.E. of Foxpound Plantation, consists of a rhomboidal area of 1/5 acre, bounded by a bank 2 ft. high with an external ditch 2½ ft. deep. An entrance in the centre of the S.W. side is apparently original. The interior is featureless except for a slightly embanked circular depression, 1 ft. deep in the centre. A hollow in the S.E. corner is probably the result of recent disturbance. Warne (Ancient Dorset (1872), 335, No. 5) lists a similar enclosure nearby which was then ‘obliterated’; no trace of it remains.’

<3> Department of the Environment, 1978, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England (Vol 2), 77 (Monograph). SWX1687.

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 29-MAY-81 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/096 RCHME Inventory: Dorset III (Central) (Unpublished document). SDO17384.

<6> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 881726 (Index). SDO14738.

RCHME: Enclosure near Foxpound, Milborne St andrew, Dorset

<7> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB76/07703 (Index). SDO14738.

PLAN OF UNDATED RHOMBOIDAL ENCLOSURE WITH AN ENTRANCE TO SW

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455846 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<9> Environment Agency, 15-DEC-2023, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO20691.

<10> National Monuments Record, 16-MAY-2014, NMR 29163/13-18 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20770.

Record last edited

Jul 19 2024 8:00PM