Monument record MDO6525 - Portland Open Fields, by Weston, Portland

According to the RCHM for Dorset published in 1970, 10 acres of strip fields, some still cultivated, survive here. However, it seems this field system may have been destroyed and built over since then. The system of strip fields is visible on aerial photographs of 1946.

The Isle of Portland was a royal manor in 1086, and divided into five tithings and organised into two or three-field rotation until the communal management finished in the 19th century. It is suggested that an original settlement at Wakeham was the nucleus for the expansion of the open fields across Portland. Although the fields have been destroyed over time by quarrying, building and later cultivation, some of the strip fields, some of which are still cultivated , survive over some 150 acres. This system consisted of furlongs butting at right angles. (1) This field system may have been destroyed and seems to have been built over.

The system of strip fields described above in (1-2) is visible on aerial photographs of 1946 in Weston, but has now been built over. The strip field boundaries are oriented north-south and east-west. They are visible over an area measuring approximately 435 m by 310 m. (3) The strip field boundaries are visible on the 2nd edition OS map. (4) This site was digitally plotted during the South West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (Dorset).

Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 2, 259 (Monograph). SDO149.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3 (Monograph). SDO150.

<2> DCC SMR, to 2003, Former DCC SMR Card Index (Index). SWX8285.

<3> Royal Air Force, 13-APR-1946, RAF 106G/UK/1411 4044-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13037.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1900, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch two (Map). SDO11594.

Record last edited

Oct 13 2015 10:56AM