Congratulations to the Ancient Technology Centre for winning the LABC Building Excellence Award for the South West Region in the Community Category

The Viking Longhouse at the Ancient Technology Centre in Cranborne is an amazing building and a worthy winner of the LABC Building Excellence Award for the South West Region in the Community Category.

As with the other buildings on the ATC site, the majority of work was undertaken by visiting school children, older students from Learning Centres and their incredible team of volunteers.

The AONB can vouch for the atmosphere created by this space as we have held both the launch of the Historic Environment Action Plans and the AONB Annual Forum there this year.

Prehistoric Rock art on the Cranborne Chase

You feel very priveledged when you get to see one piece of prehsitoric rock art in a week, let alone two.


My first encounter was at Newgrange in Ireland. This excvated Neolithic tomb has stunning examples of Prehistoric Rock Art both within and outside (see top image) the burial chamber.

It made me realise how lucky we are on the Cranborne Chase to have a rare example of Southern British rock art recovered by local archaeologist Martin Green and probably belonging to the top slab of a Bronze Age cist burial (see bottom image).

For more information on the prehistory of the Cranborne Chase visit the AONB Historic Landscape Website

Looking forward to working with Pimperne on part of their village design statement

Attended a very positive meeting at Pimperne village hall Tuesday night. They are developing a new Village Design Statement. At the meeting they agreed to work with the AONB on a workshop which will feed historic landscape characterisation approaches into the process. This will provide them with an opportunity to understand the historic landscape context of their village and the AONB with an opportunity to trial the use of the HLC in this type of context. This also helps with the delivery of Action1 of the AONB Historic Environment Action Plans. A win win situation. Thanks go to North Dorset District Council for making the initial introduction.



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AONB hosts european cordiale meeting and shares historic treasures

|On Monday at Horton Village Hall the AONB hosted the first Cordiale Training Event between the South West  and French Protected Landscapes.

Working with Landscape partners across SW England and NW France CORDIALE sets out a major investment in our collective knowledge base about forces for change and their impacts on the multiple benefits society derives from designated landscapes. CORDIALE will be a significant boost to the evidence base for landscape change and cast light on future directions and practices through focusing on landscape products such as agriculture, food, fruit, wood fuel and natural building materials.

At this training event we shared our knowledge of creating Historic Environment Action Plans and we learnt about a new monuments at Risk Survey in the North Devon AONB, new web based methods of presenting data being developed by the Tamar Valley, and the Parishscapes and Ordlando Projects in the East Devon AONB.

We then took some of the people on a fascinating tour of Martin Green's farm - which will be featured more in the next blog.

Presentation on Historic Environment Action Plans in Ireland

This blog has been a little bit quite of late - this is partly due to the fact that i have been away in Ireland giving a presentation on Historic Environment Action Plans to the Irish Heritage Officers at the invitation of the Irish Heritage Council. The other presentations were very interesting including one on the historic landscape of early christain landscapes in Irelands which is using the concept of Historic Landscape Characterisations in a research context lead by University College Cork. There was also a presentation on new LiDAR studies of the Boyne valley and TARA. In fact it was proper busmans holiday because i also visited Newgrange

Stumbled across fasinating 15th century tower at the weekend

Out walking at the weekend over Melbury Hill and stumbled across this beautiful 15th Century tower of the ruined Church of St Mary in East Compton.
Only the late 15th century west tower and the west wall of the former nave remain.

A stone cross stands in the churchard some 10 paces south east of the tower.

Compton Abbas provides a good example of the population shift in this case caused by the construction of the Blandford and Shaftsbury Turnpike circa 1820 which reorientated communities on a North-South
axis. The new Church of St Mary's (1866) was built near to the new road while the old church fell into decay.