Field Trip: Geomorphology and Archaeology in a Chalk Downland Landscape

Dorset Geologist’s Association Group (DGAG) will host a field trip on the Saturday 23 March 2024
Title: Geomorphology and Archaeology in a Chalk Downland Landscape
Leader: Martin Green
Location/Time: Down Farm, Woodcuts, Dorset. The exact meeting time, location details and further important information will be confirmed upon registration via the email contact listed below. As a rough time guide a start at about 10am and finish approximately 4pm – exact times confirmed on registration.
Cost: No fee (There will be a chance to visit the museum for a donation of £5 per person)
Registration: Contact Jeremy Cranmer via email: jeremydorset1@hotmail.co.uk

Open to the public as well – but with a number limit so on a first registered basis

Event Description: The Down Farm Landscape (where Martin Green’s family has farmed for generations) is one of the most carefully studied areas in Western Europe. Much of this work has been carried out by Martin himself – who in 1992 won the Pitt Rivers award for independent archaeology. He and his work have involved five universities and one of the major field units was featured in a BBC 2 ‘Meet the Ancestors’ programme. Martin has been awarded an honorary doctorate of the University of Reading.
The farm is part of Cranborne Chase, just south of Salisbury. It not only contains the Neolithic Dorset Cursus, numerous long barrows and Hambledon Hill, but over the last 30 years henges, shafts, plastered houses, land divisions, enclosures and cemeteries have been identified and excavated. The farm has its own museum and Martin has published a book “A Landscape Revealed: 10, 000 Years on a Chalkland Farm”.
We shall walk around the farm to study the chalk landscape and its evidence of periglacial conditions during the last ice age. We shall see the big shaft and many of the archaeological and geomorphological features on the farm. Martin has agreed the give a demonstration of flint knapping. There will also be a chance to visit the museum for a donation of £5 per person to cover running costs.
Walking will be on footpaths, tracks and pasture. Gates and stiles will be encountered. There may be farm animals (mainly sheep). Beware of rabbit holes! There are no steep hills. Jeremy says “I have been many times and it is always a fascinating visit.”

Photo: From screen shot of a cover of Martin Green book : https://biblio.co.uk/book/landscape-revealed-10000-years-chalkland-farm/d/1404856938

Further Reading: See the websites:

1. https://www.theblackmorevale.co.uk/2022/09/10/the-most-professional-of-amateur-archaeologists/

http://www.historiclandscape.co.uk/pdf/Background/B2%20CCWWD%20AONB%20HEAP%20Feb%202011.pdf