Monument record MDO40982 - Possible medieval ridge and furrow, Gaunts Common, Holt

An area of ridged and ditched cultivation marks in a field to the east of Gaunts Common is visible on 1940s aerial photographs. The features may be those of medieval narrow ridge and furrow, although a later origin is also possible. They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

An area of ridged and ditched cultivation marks in a field to the east of Gaunts Common is visible on 1940s aerial photographs (1). The features are faint and poorly defined but appear to comprise broad parallel ridges set around 5m apart with 1.5m wide ditches in between. They occupy the whole of an irregular historic enclosure recorded on the OS 1st Edition map, whose predominantly curvilinear field boundaries indicate a possible medieval origin (2). The features may be those of medieval ridge and furrow, although a later origin is also possible. The site is still fields on current Google Earth imagery but with significant boundary removal since 1947 and under regular ploughing and cropping. The features are no longer visible. They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

Record last edited

Oct 11 2019 12:52PM