Field system on Penning Down
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1010254
- Date first listed:
- 13-Mar-1990
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1010254
- Date first listed:
- 13-Mar-1990
Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Urchfont
- National Grid Reference:
- SU 04220 55010
Reasons for Designation
The most complete and extensive survival of chalk downland archaeological remains in central southern England occurs on Salisbury Plain, particularly in those areas lying within the Salisbury Plain Training Area. 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 in 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. Well preserved prehistoric field systems are rare nationally. They provide important evidence of a carefully planned reorganisation of landscape and definition of landholdings. The examples in the Salisbury Plain Training Area are some of the best surviving nationally, and their articulation with other contemporary archaeological features, such as land boundaries and enclosures, makes them worthy of scheduling.
Details
A field system of eroded banks and lynchets on an east facing slope. The northern part has been badly damaged by ploughing but the southern part remains extant with lynchets c.0.75m - 1m high.
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:
- 10001
- Legacy System:
- RSM
Sources
Other
Wiltshire Library & Museum Service, (1987)
Trust for Wessex Archaeology, (1987)
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 06-Jun-2026 at 12:02:07.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.