Monument record MDO43426 - Field system and trackways, Greenhill to Winterborne Houghton

A "Celtic" field system and trackways extending from Great Hill to Winterborne Houghton are visible as cropmarks.

Centred at ST 80400450 - An extensive but elongated field system visible on AP. <4.1-4.2> This consists of generally pronounced field banks and lynchets which extend from Great Hill to Winterborne Houghton, and are now confined to the comparatively steep sided valleys. It is reasonable to assume, that the systems, which is of IA.RB type, is associated with the settlement. The description 'Earthworks' on the OS 6" 1902 is erroneous and applies to pronounced lynchets NW and SE of Bully Plantation. <4> (Centred ST 802044) Group 53. Meriden Down, Houghton South Down and Green Down: 'Celtic' fields, some of them exceptionally well-preserved, lie within 200 acres between Crincombe and Delcombe Bottoms, ST 791051 - ST 800035, on the west, and a line from near Higher Houghton Farm. ST 810046, to Houghton South Down, ST 811037, on the east. Two settlements with well-marked contemporary roads occur south of Meriden Wood (ST 80 SW 74) and at Bully Wood (ST 80 SW 71). A possible third settlement lies half mile further SE (ST 80 SW 76). The alignment of the fields in the north of the group, from NW to SE, suggests a connection between Meriden and Green Down, but no fields are traceable in Blagdon Copse. The road SE from settlement (ST 80 SW 74) was built along the edge of fields whose lynchets were already well developed, and part of the settlement was built out over previous fields to the south. In settlement (ST 80 SW 71) the south ditch of the partial enclosure north of barrow (ST 80 SE 2) cuts into and runs along a 'Celtic' field lynchet. Lynchets on Green Down are frequently up to 6ft high and some reach a height of 20ft (at ST 79530471, for example), having a slope 50ft long from top to bottom. The field slopes here are up to 8 degrees, elsewhere up to 22 degrees, and sizes of fields vary from half acre to 1 acre. The most attenuated is 125yds by 30yds. About ST 79940390 scarps in a disturbed area are only 18yds to 24yds apart. The roads through the fields around settlement (ST 80 SW 74) are marked on the flat by low banks, and on slopes by lynchets which may have banks built on them. The tracks are from 10 to 24ft wide. The road east from settlement (ST 80 SW 71) is 11ft wide, and is similarly embanked or lyncheted. <5-6> ST796044. Field system on Green Down; Scheduled. <7>

Record last edited

Feb 15 2022 3:29PM