Monument record MDO8289 - Medieval field system, Marley Bottom, Winfrith Newburgh

The remains of an extensive medieval field system are visible as cropmarks and earthworks on aerial photographs to either side of Marley Bottom, Winfrith Newburgh. The system includes strip lynchets (contour and cross-contour type) as well as field boundaries and the possible remains of ridge and furrow cultivation.

SY 805833 to SY 811833. Medieval strip lynchets, formerly part of the open fields, cover 40 acres south of Winfrith Newburgh. Disturbed remains of contour and up-and-down type include three over 330 yds long and others up to 150 yds long with risers up to 12 ft high. A map of 1768 (a) shows vestiges of strip arrangements here. On the south the strips run into 'Celtic' fields (see SY 88 SW 19). ,1>

The strip lynchets are much ploughed down throughout the area and part are visible only as cropmarks. <1>

The remains of an extensive medieval field system are visible as cropmarks and earthworks on aerial photographs <3-8> to either side of Marley Bottom, Winfrith Newburgh. The system includes strip lynchets (contour and cross-contour type) as well as field boundaries and the possible remains of ridge and furrow cultivation. The lynchets are much ploughed down and partially visible as cropmarks, they were digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 2, 380 (Monograph). SDO149.

<1.1> Sparrow, J, 1770, Weld Estate (Map). SDO19952.

<1.2> Royal Air Force, RAF/CPE/UK/1821 4433-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20073.

<2> Attrill, N J, Field Investigators Comments NJA, F1 NJA 27-AUG-81 (Unpublished document). SDO14743.

<3> Royal Air Force, 18-FEB-1970, RAF 58/0254 0049-50 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13752.

<4> Royal Air Force, 18-FEB-1970, RAF 58/0254 0048-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13786.

<5> Royal Air Force, 21-JAN-1945, RAF 106G/LA/105 1023-4 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13800.

<6> Royal Air Force, 26-OCT-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1809 3028-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13801.

<7> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1821 4431-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13784.

<8> Royal Air Force, 21-JAN-1945, RAF 106G/LA/200 2070-1 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13802.

<9> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455631 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 23 2023 12:20PM