Monument record MDO2038 - Strip lynchets between Portesham village and Waddon, Portesham

Medieval strip fields extending for over 2 kilometres west-east along the hillside. Visible as earthwork terraces.

Strip lynchets and terraces, SY 62768563 and SY 62278572, 0.5m to 2.0m high. <1> (Centred SY 618859) Strip fields, including contour and up-and-down types of strip lynchets, cover 88 acres at Portesham. Of six groups of remains, three ('a', 'b' and 'c') are clearly connected with Portesham itself, 'd' and 'e' may have belonged to West Waddon, and 'f' certainly belonged to Little Waddon. Treads are up to 350 yards long and 2 yards to 10 yards wide, and risers are up to 8 feet high. Details are as follows: 'a' (See SY 58 NE 52). 'b' SY 606863 Fragmentary contour strip lynchets cover about four acres, running north into 'Celtic' fields (SY 68 NW 44). 'c' SY 607860. A complex of field remains includes, in addition to strip lynchets, scarps possibly of celtic fields, a block of rectangular scarped plots, each about 30 yards by 7 yards set against a 22 slope, and some narrow rig. A curving footpath marked on OS maps appears on the ground as a hollow-way. 'd' SY 609859. Well-marked contour strip lynchets are linked to 'c' (above) by broad ridge-and-furrow. At about SY 61158585, east of a disused tramway causeway, are four strip lynchets with risers 2 feet to 4 feet in height, reinforced with limestone rubble in their faces. 'e' SY 615859. Six acres of confused remains include strip lynchets and a block of strips 7 yds to 14 yds wide divided by low banks about 12 feet wide. These are disturbed by narrow rig. This cultivation has sliced a round barrow (SY 68 NW 48) to the east and west. 'f' (SY 620858). Massive and well-preserved strip lynchets. <2> Medieval strip lynchets and Celtic fields remain visible generally as described by RCHM (1) along the whole length of the hillside (over 2 Kms). Area outlined on 1:10560 Record Sheet. <3> The earthwork remains of the lynchets described by the above authorities could be seen on aerial photographs taken by English Heritage in 2006 as part of the Reconnaissance Recording Programme. Further earthwork remains of field systems and Medieval/Post Medieval ridge and furrow to the south of Winters Lane. The remains are visible extending from the road ( approximately SY 6158 5813) southwards almost to the disused railway (approximately SY 6159 5375). <4> Medieval strip field system extending for over 2 kilometres west-east along the hillside, from Portesham to West Waddon and Little Waddon. Also visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photgraphs <5-13> and were digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project. They have been destroyed in part at their western end due to extensive post-medieval quarrying and limekiln works (MDO2093).

Record last edited

May 17 2023 2:25PM