Site Event/Activity record EMO6590 - 1993-1996: TS - West Exmoor Project

The West Exmoor Project was a multidisciplinary project comprising archaeological area survey carried out by field staff from RCHME Exeter and staff from the RCHME Aerial Survey section based in Swindon, to record monuments and landscapes up to 1945, within the western half of the Exmoor National Park. A similar project will run subsequently to record the eastern half of the Exmoor National Park (EMO6759). The input from the Aerial survey section came in the form of four area surveys for which transcriptions were produced from aerial photographs. These surveys were targeted at areas believed to be made up largely of field systems, and were intended to locate major features and highlight those areas where more detailed ground survey might be appropriate. These projects, which are described below, are Molland Common, West and East Anstey, Challacombe, and Parracombe. The project based on Molland Common covered an area extending from approximately SS 795 270 to SS 840 330. This area is somewhat larger than the actual area of Molland Common due to be investigated by field teams on the ground, but was based on the coverage of the available aerial photographs. Due to the rugged nature of the area in question, and the fact that most of the archaeological features were still upstanding as earthworks, it was decided to carry out the project using the Digicart stereophotogrammetric plotter. In spite of the rough topography, the lack of many fixed control points and the breadth of hedgerows, which made it difficult to be certain quite where two hedges joined, this produced plots with residual errors never greater than 2 metres. The photographs used for plotting on the Digicart were 1:10,000 scale cover of the National Park taken by ADAS in 1976. Some further details were added from other cover ranging from RAF vertical photographs from the late 1940s to false colour infra red film positives held by the National Park office (further details of the methodolgy and photographs used can be found in the project report, which forms part of Collection No. 1269375). The plots from the Digicart were printed out and inked overlays to the O.S. 1:2500 base map produced. Additional detail from the other photographs was added to these overlays, which were then passed to the field team for ground enhancement at higher scales. No monument records were created by the Aerial suvey staff as this was deemed to be more appropriate for the field teams. The collection for "Molland Common, West Exmoor" consists of a copy of the report, the project file and the overlays (Collection No. 1269375). The second project lay just to the west of the first and indeed had a small area of overlap. This was based around the commons of West Anstey and East Anstey, but again extended somewhat beyond the absolute boundaries due to the coverage of the available aerial photographs. It covered an area extending from approximately SS 830 280 to SS 880 315. The rugged, upland nature of the area in question again led to the use of the Digicart stereophotogrammetric plotter. Once again in spite of the previously mentioned factors (rough topography, the lack of many fixed control points and the breadth of hedgerows), this produced plots with residual errors never greater than 2 metres. The photographs used for plotting on the Digicart were again 1:10,000 scale cover of the National Park taken by ADAS in 1976. Small amounts of extra detail were added from other cover, mainly RAF vertical photographs from the late 1940s, but due to time constraints the false colour infra red film positives held by the National Park office were not consulted. (Further details of the methodolgy and photographs used can be found in the project report, which forms part of Collection No. 1269376). Due to technolgical advances the plots from the Digicart were transfered in digital form to AutoCAD where they were combined with the details from the other photographs to produce a final composite drawing. This was then passed to the field team as both a paper plot and as digital files for ground enhancement at higher scales. Again no monument records were created by the Aerial suvey staff. The collection for "Anstey Common, West Exmoor" consists of a copy of the report, the project file, overlays and a paper copy of the plot at 1:10,000 scale (Collection No. 1269376). The aerial photographic transcription of Parracombe, West Exmoor took place in December 1999. The details can be found in EEM14908. The aerial photographic transcription of Challacombe, West Exmoor took place in December 1999. The details can be found in Event record. The survey was confined to an area measuring 2.3 kilometres by 2.5 kilometres around the villages of Challacombe and Barton Town. This area is defined by the following grid references: SS 6750 4000, SS 6750 4250, SS 6980 4250, SS 6980 4000. The objective of the survey was to interpret and transcribe at 1:2500 scale, all archaeological features visible on aerial photographs in the survey area. The transcription was produced with the aid of the Digicart stereophotogrammetric plotter and the AERIAL 4.2 Aerial Photograph Rectification program. A final drawing was produced using the AutoCAD drawing package. Monument recording has been carried out for the extensive field system plotted as part of the project. The collection for RCHME: Challacombe, West Exmoor, consists of a report (which lists methods, photographs consulted and a brief description of the archaeology and a reduced size plan), and a film and paper copy of the AutoCAD drawing at 1:2500 scale. (Collection UID 1301145). Monument location data applied to aid retrieval 2018.