Monument record MDO736 - Cerne Deer Park, Cerne Abbas

Bank and ditch around Cerne Park, which encloses an area of about 105 acres. The ditch is inside the bank which in places rises to a height of 5½ feet. The deer park boundary is visible as earthworks on 1940's aerial photographs and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Frome AIM project. Earthworks forming the east side of the deer park pale are visible on Environment Agency lidar imagery and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project.

ST 650010. Cerne Park pale encloses an area of 108 acres, the boundary bank and internal ditch being poorly preserved but traceable around its entire circumference. There are traces of an outer ditch in places and of a slight bank on top of the main pale at the north and south sides. A typical section shows the pale to be 20ft across and 5ft high. The internal ditch is 10ft wide and 1 1/2 ft deep and the outer ditch, where it exists, is 12ft wide and 3ft deep.

A well which exists near the east side of the Park may represent the original water supply. The area is still wooded but part of the south side has been recently destroyed. The park was first mentioned in 1356. (1-3) (5)

Cerne Park is enclosed by a pale which survives as a bank with an inner ditch. The bank averages 7.0m width and 1.4m high, the ditch is 5.0m wide and 0.5m deep. The pale has been recently destroyed in the NW but its course is clear on the OS air photograph. The southern part of the Park has been cleared of woodland and is now arable. The well, published at ST 65330100, is now covered; there is no evidence of a lodge in the vicinity of the well. Published 1:2500 survey revised. (7)

The deer park boundary is visible as earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Frome AIM project (8, 9). The boundary appears to comprise of an outer bank with a ditch on its inner side. The northwest section is visible as a cropmark and this suggests the presence of a possible inner bank, creating a double-banked feature - but this is not clearly evident where the standing earthworks are visible. The eastern section appears relatively degraded on a 1947 aerial photograph (8).

Along part of the east and southeast sides the external boundary appears reduced to the size of historic field boundaries; on the southwest side there is the suggestion of the internal ditch surviving below ground and visible as a cropmark. Within the wooded areas the internal ditch is visible on a 1947 aerial photograph as a break in the tree line; predominantly on the north side of the park (8, 9).

Earthworks forming the east side of the deer park pale are visible on Environment Agency lidar imagery and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle Valleys AIM project. <12>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 84 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(41) Bank and Ditch round Cerne Park, 1 m. W. of the church, encloses an area of about 105 acres. The ditch is within the bank which in places rises to a height of 5½ ft.’

<2> Crawford, O G S, 1953, Archaeology in the Field, 196 (Monograph). SDO17971.

<3> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, RCHM Ms File (unpublished revision of Dorset 1), RCHM Ms File (unpublished revision of Dorset 1) No 41 21 9 76 (Unpublished document). SDO17382.

<4> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1962 (Map). SWX1540.

(ST 650012) Park Pale (NR) (five times)

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1963, Monuments Threatened or Destroyed. A Select List: 1956-1962 (Monograph). SDO12558.

‘CERNE PARK [ST 650014] Medieval park pale, formerly enclosing 108 acres (R.C.H.M., West Dorset, Cerne Abbas, Monument 41).’

<6> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1964, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1963, 144-145 (Serial). SDO63.

<7> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 02-NOV-76 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<7.1> AP (OS 74/088/149) (Aerial Photograph). SDO17972.

<8> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-47, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2378-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17068.

<9> Royal Air Force, 11-APR-47, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2377-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17069.

<10> Rackham, O, 2014, Cerne Abbas Park (Monograph). SDO13741.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 199258 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<12> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Nov 1 2024 11:24AM