Place record MDO47977 - Iwerne Courtney or Shroton

An area east of Ranston has been suggested as the possible site of a medieval deer park, based on field name evidence. This is now considered unlikely, with the field names thought to refer to the later landscaping around the house (Wilson 1977).

Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 126-131 (Monograph). SDO146.

Wilson, J D, 1980, The medieval deer-parks of Dorset XVI; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 8 (Article in serial). SDO14056.

‘IWERNE COURTNEY. As with Iwerne Minster, this site was added to the list of possibles on place-name evidence only. The Tithe Apportionment gives ‘Higher Park Plantation’ on the hillside east of Ranston House and of the A350 Blandford-Shaftesbury road. The actual position is however unpromising and the area revealed no likely earthworks. There seems no definite history of a manor house here earlier than the seventeenth century and it is probable that this field name refers to the ornamental grounds of that or succeeding centuries.’

Record last edited

Feb 18 2025 2:43PM