“Freedom means to me being able to wander the island, to walk through the quarries, to walk along the cliffs and go underneath PORTLAND PATHWAYS PROJECT PATHWAYS PORTLAND the cliffs”. Skylark Durston Many of the footpaths and bridleways we use today have their origins in routes travelled hundreds or thousands of years ago – these routes are now enshrined in our public rights of way. They not only record how we have navigated our landscape in the past, telling stories of our landscape and built environment but also provide public access to landscapes and historic sites which otherwise may not be possible. THE STORY OF PORTLANDS PATHWAYS Pathways evolve over time, their courses fields. These fields were split into constantly evolving and responding to broad strips called ‘furlongs ‘and then changing needs and priorities. Linking sub divided into narrower strip fields places such as homes and workplaces of an acre. Each of these acres was they were originally created by the act known as a ‘lawn’, and the earth baulks of walking, their meandering routes that separated them were known as responding to terrain, territory, and ‘lynchets’, or ‘lawnsheds’. This intricate obstacles on route. system of lawnsheds led to an equally complex network of pathways and There is evidence of habitation on tracks, involving generations of unofficial Portland from the earliest times with agreements and arrangements between finds dating from the late Palaeolithic neighbours and relatives for access to period, and significantly, the discovery of each other’s land. 01 a Mesolithic settlement site close to the sea near Portland Bill. The occupants In addition to the fields were large here were semi-sedentary, and survived areas of common land, mainly the by gathering molluscs and used Chert, slopes of the Weares and Verne Hill, a form of flint, collected from exposures much of it used for sheep grazing. in the cliffs for their stone tools. These The Sturt (near Portland Bill) and the archaeological finds build a picture of area around Southwell were also the importance of access to the coast particularly important areas for sheep for these Mesolithic islanders, and point rearing. Flocks were shepherded to the probable use of pathways down to these common grazing lands on to, and around the coast of Portland and a daily basis and routes, wide enough the daily ritual of collecting fresh water for herding animals, became established from the nearby spring at Culver Well. on the areas of common land between the villages. The wide streets of the From the mid-1st to the 4th century AD, Tophill area of Portland reflect the there is significant evidence of Roman need to move animals between areas settlements on Portland, with various of grassland and to the large ponds burial sites and stone sarcophagi dating that were once significant features of from that period found across the Island. Weston, Easton and Southwell. 02 It is during this period that many of the present day villages were originally Portland’s agricultural land was established, including Fortuneswell, enclosed much later in the 19th Chiswell and Castletown, Easton, Century compared to the rest of Dorset. Weston and Southwell. All sited close to Nevertheless Enclosure Acts meant sources of water. The pathways, which the system of open fields and common evolved connecting these settlements, lands profoundly changed. Pathways remained largely unchanged up until the were officially delineated and previously 19th Century due to the topography of informal tracks were formalised into the island. walled lanes as the land either side was enclosed. This network of tracks and Portland was once an agricultural pathways used for walking, animals and landscape with fields of crops and wheeled transport eventually evolved grazing sheep. In Saxon times the land into the present road system and network was divided into six large open of footpaths we use today. 03 SHEEP THE COURT LEET There were various offices of the Court Leet, The importance of sheep farming is evident Originally a Saxon authority the Court Leet one being the Reeve. It was the job of the from local place names such as Sheepcroft, still exists on Portland today. The Court Leet Reeve to collect a quit rent of 3d per acre on Shepherds Croft, Mutton Cove, Wool lane, manages the common land on Portland and behalf of the Crown. The ownership of land Wool Meadow and the pathway known as at one time monitored the use of land, making was recorded on a Reeve Staff, a wooden pole Shepherd’s Dinner. At its peak in 1840 there sure that individuals stuck to the rules - marked with notches for each acre owned. were four flocks of 1,000 sheep each, which dealing with issues of wandering sheep and Different areas of the island were depicted with roamed Portland. The increase in quarrying on challenging any attempts to enclose land or different symbols 04 the island saw their decline with the final flock harvest at the wrong time. leaving Portland in 1920. 02 02 PONDS 03 The settlements of Portland evolved around small watercourses, which fed into ponds. The villages of Easton, Weston and Southwell had large ponds used for communal watering and washing. As Portland’s water supply became inadequate to serve a growing population, water was piped from the mainland and the ponds filled in and incorporated into the road system. 04 02 This map shows present day rights CHISWELL of way overlaid on a base map CASTLETOWN indicating roads, pathways and former rail and tramways as recorded on 1888 map of Portland. Field patterns and names are based on EASTON research by Stuart Morris, sourced from old maps and other documents. THE VERNE CHISWELL CITADEL FORTUNESWELL TOPHILL AND UNDERHILL NICODEMUS KNOB WAKEHAM ROTOR BUNKER NICODEMUS The topography of Portland has Stone stack indicating former ground HIGH ANGLE KNOB BATTERY determined much of its development. level, illustrating just how much stone The extremely steep hill between the has been excavated. lower clay slopes of the northern end WESTON and the high limestone plateau created RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS a natural divide that impacted on social The pathways we see today on the East THE OLD and practical aspects of living and Weares are closely related not only to the ENGINE SHED working on the Island. The lower villages railways, but also to the original routes SOUTHWELL THE GROVE are collectively referred to as Underhill used to ship stone from Durdle and and those on top as Tophill. Folly Piers. Traces of the infrastructure for these routes can still be seen in THE POUND places, particularly the Merchants Incline On the wide verge at Weston is a route from Tophill quarries down to THE POUND ST GEORGE’S walled enclosure in which sheep and Castletown. CHURCH EASTON cattle found unlawfully grazing on common land would be impounded by LAWNSHEDS BLACKNOR the Court Leet. It was dismantled and At the Bill area can still be seen the FORT RAILWAYS AND reconstructed on the current site remains of the Saxon land management in 1946 to make way for Pound Piece system of multiple strip fields, known on WINDMILL TRAMWAYS housing estate. Portland as lawnsheds. The lawnsheds WINDMILL WAKEHAM are actually the earth baulks between RUFUS CASTLE WESTON PENNSYLVANIA CASTLE PIXIES the cultivated ‘lawns’, enabling access. ST ANDREWS RUIN There are many Portland stories of fairies These lawns were used to grow a range or “pexies” racing along the lawnsheds of carefully controlled crops, including looking for places to hold their revels. wheat, potatoes, barley, oats and peas. The wall running along the road to Chene PIXIES is said to be one of their haunts. GAVELKIND The large number of these land CULVERWELL MESOLITHIC strips reflects the impact of the system SITE of inheritance on Portland, known as SOUTHWELL Dating from 7500-8500 years ago, the gavelkind, which stipulated that the main feature of this site is a large floor of property of the deceased was divided limestone slabs laid on top of a rubbish equally between all children regardless dump of shells - the first known evidence of age or gender. This led to many in England for the use of Portland stone individuals owning very small areas for building purposes. The site is open to of land. It also meant that, unlike the the public on certain dates. For details mainland, women owned property in their PRESENT DAY PUBLIC see portlandarchaeology.weebly.com own right and had no need to marry. LIGHTHOUSE CULVER RIGHT OF WAY WELL FORMER PONDS LIGHTHOUSE CULVERWELL TRACK OR PATH MESOLITHIC SITE FORMER RAILWAY FORMER TRAMWAY LAWNSHEDS LIGHTHOUSE PORTLAND BILL More information about the project and the history of Portland’s paths can be Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 found in The Portland Pathways Research Report available at b-side.org.uk WINDMILLS around them continued to be harvested up fitted with ‘yeat’ stones. These were slotted The ruins of two medieval Windmills still stand until the 1970s. The mills have increasingly stone posts fitted with removable wooden bars today to the south of Easton, on what was fallen into disrepair - the timber components designed to contain animals but also allow originally known as ‘Haylands’ or ‘Droopfield’. of the windshaft and sailstock can be seen in access when needed. Eventually replaced by “These landslides have ever been one of the The windmills themselves probably ceased Portland Museum. 05 standard walls and gates, many of these yeat to operate around the 1890s, due to cheap stones can still be found today, marking the terrors hanging over us during long spells mass produced flour and bread being readily YEAT STONES edges of Portland’s pathways.