Monument record MDO4803 - Medieval field system at Ash, Stourpaine

Earthworks of contour strip lynchets visible as earthworks over an area of around 70 acres on the sides of a dry valley which runs ESE from Ash Farm. The remains of the open field system around around the settlement of Ash. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water.

A 'Celtic' field system lies E of Ash Farm (ST 868101 to ST 873100) on a N facing valley side. The remains have been overlain or integrated with strip and subsequent cultivation (see below). On Stourpaine Hill around ST 880 107, a broken pattern can be seen in a field called Horse Leys on the Tithe Map. The only apparently complete fields here are 120 yds long and about 35 yds wide. Over the same area, Medieval contour strip lynchets of the former open fields of Ash (around ST 872101) cover some 70 acres, mainly on each side of a dry valley which runs E-S-E from Ash Farm. The strips are up to 320 yds long with treads 30 yds wide; some have risers up to 20ft high. Further traces of strips, now ploughed out, can be seen on air photographs <1.1> on the flatter ground to the N, NE and SW. (Plan with ST 81 SE 57). <1>

Area of 'Celtic' fields and Medieval cultivation plotted from available RAF air photographs. <2>

<1> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 262-263 (Monograph). SDO136.

‘(10) CULTIVATION REMAINS. … Contour strip lynchets of the open fields of Ash (around 872101) cover some 70 acres, mainly on each side of a dry valley which runs E.S.E. from Ash Farm. The strips are up to 320 yds. long with treads 30 yds. wide; some have risers up to 20 ft. high. Further traces of strips, now ploughed out, can be seen on air photographs (R.A.F. CPE/UK 1944: 1321 & 3324) on the flatter ground to the N., N.E. and S.W. The date of enclosure of these fields is unknown, but until late in the 18th century the glebe land remained in strips within enclosed fields (late 18th-century map of Ash and Lazerton, D.C.R.O.).’

<1.1> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1944 3322-4 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17746.

<1.2> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1944 1321 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17745.

<2> Royal Air Force, 24-04-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/2038 3227-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17744.

<2.1> Royal Air Force, 27-04-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/2038 3231-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16338.

<4> Historic England, Historic England Archive, RCH01/096 (Index). SDO14738.

RCHME Inventory: Dorset III (Central): A large collection of archive relating to the RCHME Dorset Inventory Volume III, published in 1970. It contains field surveys and excavation archive. Parish files containing original surveys have been given child collection status.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 206141 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 22 2024 12:45PM