Scheduled Monument: Medieval settlement 850m north of St Mary's Church (SM33551)

EXTRACT FROM ENGLISH HERITAGE'S RECORD OF SCHEDULED MONUMENTS MONUMENT: Medieval settlement 850m north of St Mary's Church PARISH: CHARMINSTER DISTRICT: WEST DORSET COUNTY: DORSET NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 33551 NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE(S): SY67939355 DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT The monument includes the earthwork remains of a medieval settlement situated on a steep west facing slope on the eastern side of the Cerne valley. The site is almost certainly the former farmstead of Charlton, one of a number of settlements recorded as Cerne in the Domesday Book, each with an associated strip of land running from the river bank north east up to the chalk. It is not listed in any of the 14th century Subsidy Rolls, but in 1662 a population of one household is listed at Charlton Farm. The farmstead is situated within a rectangular enclosure, surrounded on the north, south and east sides by a bank about 4m wide and up to 1.5m high externally, 0.4m internally, with an external ditch up to 2m wide and 0.5m deep. The interior is divided by banks and ditches into five rectangular enclosures. In the north western enclosure are two platforms terraced into the base of the slope, which may be the sites of buildings. The western side of the site lies on the flat ground of the valley floor at the base of the slope; in this area two patches of cobbling have been exposed by ploughing together with pottery of 13th and 14th century date. Part of a medieval strip lynchet, up to 3m wide and 2m high, lying adjacent to the eastern side of the enclosure, is included in the scheduling. This forms part of a series of strip lynchets which extend along the valley, to the north of the settlement and represent evidence for farming practices contemporary with the settlement. Only the extant example is included in the scheduling, the remainder having been reduced by cultivation and no longer clearly defined. All fence posts and water troughs are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath these features is included. ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE Medieval rural settlements in England were marked by great regional diversity in form, size and type, and the protection of their archaeological remains needs to take these differences into account. To do this, England has been divided into three broad Provinces on the basis of each area's distinctive mixture of nucleated and dispersed settlements. These can be further divided into sub-Provinces and local regions, possessing characteristics which have gradually evolved during the last 1500 years or more. This monument lies in the West Wessex sub-Province of the Central Province, an area characterised by large numbers of villages and hamlets within countrysides of great local diversity, ranging from flat marshland to hill ridges. Settlements range from large, sprawling villages to tiny hamlets, a range extended by large numbers of scattered dwellings in the extreme east and west of the sub-Province. Cultivation in open townfields was once present, but early enclosure was commonplace. The physical diversity of the landscape was, by the time of Domesday Book in 1086, linked with great variations in the balance of cleared land and woodland. The earthwork remains of the medieval settlement and adjacent strip lynchet 850m north of St Mary's church are well-preserved and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to medieval agriculture, the economy of the settlement's inhabit ants and the environment in which they lived. SCHEDULING HISTORY Monument included in the Schedule on 27th January 1960 as: COUNTY/NUMBER: Dorset 460 NAME: Earthworks east of Sodern The reference of this monument is now: NATIONAL MONUMENT NUMBER: 33551 NAME: Medieval settlement 850m north of St Mary's Church SCHEDULING REVISED ON 11th February 2002

Record last edited

Oct 29 2014 4:33PM