Monument record MDO5225 - Deer park, Park Bottom, Winterborne Houghton

(Centred ST 800046) A deer park at Winterborne Houghton is mentioned in a writ of 1294 and in inquisitions of 1330 and 1361. The park pale encloses some 94 acres of land in and around Park Bottom, a deep re-entrant valley orientated NW-SE. The pale consists of a rounded bank 10ft to 15ft wide with an inner ditch 8ft to 10ft wide. On the SW where it coincides with the parish boundary the bank is only 1 1/2ft high; in the N it is 6 1/2ft high in consequence of being on top of a 'Celtic' field lynchet; elsewhere it is 2ft to 3ft high. The original entrance cannot be identified. On the NE the pale cuts across a Romano-British settlement (ST 80 SW 74) and obliterates part of a bivallate track that led into the settlement.

Public access is allowed to the park, and a map supplied by the RoyalCommission on Historical Monuments is on display on the N side of the park, near the Romano-British settlement. <1-2>

<1> Wilson, J D, 1979, Medieval Deer Parks of Dorset XVII. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 171-174 (Article in serial). SDO20707.

<2> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 298 (Monograph). SDO136.

'(7) Deer Pale (796048-801047) lies just over 1 m. W. of the village. A deer park is mentioned in 1294 (Cal. Inq. Misc. Vol. I, 1219-1307, No. 1662) but almost nothing is known of its subsequent history. The pale encloses some 94 acres of land in and around Park Bottom, a deep re-entrant valley orientated N.W.-S.E.; the pale consists of a bank 10 ft. to 15 ft. wide with an inner ditch 8 ft. to 10 ft. wide. On the S.W. where it coincides with the parish boundary the bank is only 1½ ft. high; in the N. it is 6½ ft. high in consequence of being built on top of a ‘Celtic’ field lynchet; elsewhere it is 2 ft. to 3 ft. high. The original entrance cannot be identified. On the N.E. the pale cuts across a Romano-British settlement (9) and obliterates part of a bivallate track that led into the settlement.'

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 205793 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 5 2024 11:12AM