Monument record MDO4803 - Medieval field system at Ash, Stourpaine

Earthworks of contour strip lynchets visible as earthworks over an area of around 70 acres on the sides of a dry valley which runs ESE from Ash Farm. The remains of the open field system around around the settlement of Ash. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water.

A 'Celtic' field system lies E of Ash Farm (ST 868101 to ST 873100) on a N facing valley side. The remains have been overlain or integrated with strip and subsequent cultivation (see below). On Stourpaine Hill around ST 880 107, a broken pattern can be seen in a field called Horse Leys on the Tithe Map. The only apparently complete fields here are 120 yds long and about 35 yds wide. Over the same area, Medieval contour strip lynchets of the former open fields of Ash (around ST 872101) cover some 70 acres, mainly on each side of a dry valley which runs E-S-E from Ash Farm. The strips are up to 320 yds long with treads 30 yds wide; some have risers up to 20ft high. Further traces of strips, now ploughed out, can be seen on air photographs <1.1> on the flatter ground to the N, NE and SW. (Plan with ST 81 SE 57). <1> Area of 'Celtic' fields and Medieval cultivation plotted from available RAF air photographs. <2>

Record last edited

Mar 3 2022 11:43AM