Monument record MDO3574 - Dyke on Fox Ground Down, Blandford St Mary

A ditch with a low bank along its southern side, running for approximately 1000m along a low ridge. In places the earthwork has been much reduced by cultivation. At the west end, this dyke meets another which crosses the ridge. The site is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar imagery and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM.

A linear earthwork extending for about 1/2 mile in an E-W direction, with a shorter N-S extension at the W end. For the most part it consists solely of a poorly defined ditch, averaging 5.0m wide and 0.3m deep. From A, ST 86490448 to B, ST 86480422, the earthwork has been destroyed, but S of B, and for 30.0m S of C, ST 86460391, the ditch, is still traceable in the plantations and arable ground. From C to D, ST 87040381, the E-W ditch again averages 5.0m wide and 0.3m deep and is grass covered. There is no visible bank but this may have been destroyed by ploughing which has encroached to the tip of the ditch. From D, ST 8705031 to E, ST 87380376 the ditch is 0.5m deep, and has a spread bank on the N side. This bank averages 2.0m wide and 0.2m high. Both bank and ditch are under grass. The earthwork appears to be of prehistoric origin and is similar to the Late Bronze Age boundary ditch earthworks found in the E part of the county. <2> At the W. end, the earthwork meets another length of dyke (86440386-86500448) which extends for some 700 yds. From S.-N., across the ridge and down the N. slope, towards the bottom of the combe, S. of The Down House. Much of this dyke lies within woodland; where best preserved it comprises a scarp, 3 ft. high, falling eastwards to a shallow ditch, 4 ft. across. The N-S dyke appears to extend further S than indicated by OS 6" RCHM. Air photographs show the probable extension curving in New Plantation towards the trackway at ST 86430377. The ploughed down section is also visible. <4> The site is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs <5> and lidar imagery <6>, and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM. It runs for 650m in a N-S direction.

Record last edited

Oct 2 2023 2:53PM