Monument record MDO6115 - Prehistoric field system on Handley Common and Chapel Down, Sixpenny Handley

An extensive field system covering the ridge from Handley Common to Chapel Down.

Much of this area has been ploughed, but a few scattered lynchets are still vaguely visible up to 0.2m in height. <2> 'Celtic' fields long flattened by cultivation extend for over 2 miles along the top of a ridge, from the N edge of Handley Common SSE to Chapel Down (ST 976187 - ST 990152). They appear to be related to the settlement at Humby's Stock Coppice (ST 91 NE 20 and 56). <3> The fields survive only poorly and are not recommended for scheduling. Ground photo with archive report. <4> Traces of a field system of later prehistoric or Roman date on Handley Common and Chapel Down. Mostly levelled by ploughing (though in 1949 RJC Atkinson noted a few scattered lynchets "still vaguely visible" up to about 20 centimetres in height), the traces extend for over two miles along the top of a ridge, from the north edge of Handley Common south southeast to Chapel Down. They appear to be related to the settlement features visible near Humby's Stock Coppice (ST 91 NE 56). According to RCHME, to the south they also "adjoin the boundary ditches of the Iron Age and Romano-British settlement on Gussage Hill" (ST 91 SE 3). <5>

Record last edited

Sep 3 2022 1:27PM