Monument record MDO41515 - Probable medieval ridge and furrow, Corfe Mullen

Areas of ridged and ditched cultivation marks at Corfe Mullen are visible on aerial photographs. Banked linear features in between the cultivation marks and on the same alignment are also visible on aerial photographs and current Lidar imagery. The features are considered likely to be those of medieval narrow ridge and furrow and historic field boundaries, also probably of medieval origin. They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

Areas of ridged and ditched cultivation marks at Corfe Mullen are visible on aerial photographs (1-3). The features comprise regular parallel ridges set between 6m and 8m apart apart with approximately 1.5m wide ditches in between. They occupy two irregular historic enclosures recorded on the OS 1st Edition map, whose sinuous boundaries are likely to be medieval in origin; the same map also suggests that the enclosures were later divided by the construction of the railway line and the cultivation marks also appear to pre-date the building of the railway (4). Two banked linear features in between the cultivation marks and on the same alignment are also visible on the north side of the railway on aerial photographs and current Lidar imagery (3 and 5). The linear features also align with adjacent historic field boundaries. The features are considered likely to be those of medieval narrow ridge and furrow and historic field boundaries, also probably of medieval origin; possibly remnants of relict medieval strip field. The site is still open fields either side of the now dismantled railway on current Google Earth imagery but the features are no longer visible. They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

Record last edited

Jan 4 2022 2:14PM