Lynchets at Southmill Hill
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1015220
- Date first listed:
- 19-Mar-1976
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1015220
- Date first listed:
- 19-Mar-1976
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 13-Nov-1996
Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Amesbury
- National Grid Reference:
- SU 15930 40808
Reasons for Designation
The most complete and extensive survival of chalk downland archaeological remains in central southern England occurs on Salisbury Plain. These remains represent one of the few extant archaeological `landscapes' in Britain and are considered to be of special significance because they differ in character from those other areas with comparable levels of preservation. Individual sites on Salisbury Plain are seen as being additionally important because the evidence of their direct association with each other survives so well. Lynchets provide distinctive traces of medieval and earlier agricultural activities in downland areas, indicating the level of intensity of land use and farming practices through time. The four lynchets on Southmill Hill survive well and are a prominent landscape feature on the periphery of the town of Amesbury. In addition, they will contain archaeological deposits providing evidence for the economy and environment during the medieval period.
Details
The monument includes a flight of four strip lynchets lying across the north west facing slope of Southmill Hill, immediately north east of the A345 Salisbury to Amesbury road. The lynchets are medieval in date and are the result of deliberate terracing of the steep hillslope for cultivation. They survive as wide terraces up to 15m wide cut into the slope and separated by steep sections of bank which range in height from 2m to 5.5m. The northernmost lynchet survives to the greater height, declining gradually to the southernmost lynchet which is the lowest in height. The remains of a further lynchet to the south east of the monument have been levelled by cultivation and are not included within the scheduling. All fence posts and cattle troughs are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath these features is included.
MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 28941
- Legacy System:
- RSM
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 20-May-2026 at 13:14:21.
Download a full scale map (PDF)© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2026. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.
End of official list entry