Monument record MDO7406 - Deserted medieval settlement, Afflington Farm, Corfe Castle

The remains of rectilinear enclosures and trackways associated with a deserted medieval settlement are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs of fields to the north and east of Afflington Farm, Corfe Castle.

Afflington, Alfrington or Addlington was anciently a considerable manor and a hamlet, now only a tithing and farm. A little east from the house are foundations of buildings where probably the ancient hamlet stood. A market and fair were granted 54 Henry III (1269-70). <1> (SY 971802) Settlement remains of Afflington cover almost 10 acres of pasture east of Afflington Farm and were recorded in Domesday as 'Alvronetone'. The remains lie in a field which slopes north to a partly embanked stream that forms the north boundary and is fed by a small and boggy water channel. A hollow-way flanked by scarps 1 1/2ft high enters the field from the lane to Afflington Farm and crosses it at right angles. Two platforms immediately north of it are the only likely house sites, their level surface contrasts markedly with the slope of the other closes. The larger platform is almost square about 3/4 acre and traces of subdivision; its north scarp falls 4 1/2ft into a long hollow 6 yards wide, posssibly an approach way. A second smaller platform of about 1/3 acre adjoins the first on the east; it contains in the south west angle two subsidiary platforms 4 x 8 yards and 5 x 10 yards, which might once have supported buildings. The hollow-way continues east until blocked by a low bank some 40 yards west of the east hedge of the field; beyond this only a faintly defined hollow-way can be seen. Much disturbed banks and scarps lie north and south and in the south west quarter of the field are two scarped and banked closes, each over 1/2 acre. There is evidence for a two field system in the medieval period. <2-3> SY 972801. DMV of Afflington. Listed. <4> It is said that between 15 and 20 houses still stood at the end of the 17th century. <6> Desertion at Afflington extends over 4 ha., centred at SY 97188015. It consists of about nine closes in blocks of two or three, separated, in the best preserved northern half, by hollow ways. Generally as described by authority 1,but three building platforms can be distinguished. Two are sunken platforms approached by entrance way hollows and one is a raised platform. A fourth building site is just discernible in low light. A shallow pond at SY 97178010 is simple an accumulation of run-off water but its hollow may have formerly served some other purpose. The two closes immediately to the NW of the pond and on the S side of a hollow way appear to have been cut back at some distant time along their southern edge. The hollow ways are from 0.5m to 0.9m deep; other banks and scarps 0.2m to 0.5m high. The settlement probably once extended over a further 3 ha. To the W, an area mostly occupied by house, cottage and farm buildings, but the field to the N of these exhibits further amorphous undulations. A hedging ditch bordering its E. side, abutting the farm approach lane, has cast up quantities of oyster shells. <7> The remains of rectilinear enclosures and trackways associated with a deserted medieval settlement are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs of fields to the north and east of Afflington Farm, Corfe Castle <9-12>. These features were digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck mapping project.

Record last edited

Oct 10 2023 11:22AM