Monument record MDO241 - Medieval lynchets at Lower Bincombe Farm, Bincombe

Medieval contour lynchets are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs.

(Centred at SY 688841) Medieval strip cultivation. Above and below the 300ft contour on the north-west slope of a ridge. Above the contour the cultivations form a number of steep sided terraces, and below the contour traces of a number of slight terraces make a large angle with the contours. <1> As described. On the eastern side of the area delineated, the contour following terraces have very strong lynchets which terminate at the south end where quarrying has taken place. <2> (Centred SY 688841) Strip lynchets shown on plan (with SY 68 SE 42). At SY 68848400 an isolated strip lynchet curves uphill and east as if to avoid a hollow, probably an ancient quarry. Widths of treads vary from 4 to 18 yds and riser heights from 3 to 16 ft. <3> The Medieval strip lynchets, centred at SY 690841, and covering an area of 0.6 ha., remain as described by RCHM <1> and <3>. They are in a good state of preservation, and are a conspicuous feature of the landscape. <5> Medieval contour lynchets are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and LiDAR imagery to the north- west of Chalbury hillfort <6-8>. They were digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project and form part of a wider medieval landscape of stip lynchets and cultivation marks.

Record last edited

Nov 14 2023 12:12PM