MDE10896 - Lower Rowley (Monument)

The site was noted in the form of shallow ditches subdividing enclosures north of Lower Rowley, possibly forming a deserted farm site, on aerial photographs. [1-3] SS 6517 4371. The NGR falls within a field immediately north of Lower Rowley. It contains earthworks which represent removed field boundaries, surface drainage, hollow ways and at least one building platform. Lower Rowley consists of two domestic buildings, one of which is still lived in, the second or northern one is in ruins. The earthwork platform lies immediately to its north, and probably represents a former structure associated with it. The removed field boundaries represent former paddocks attached to the farm, and the hollow way connects it with Rowley Cottage and Rowley Barton to the north. [4] Lower Rowley farmstead appears on historic mapping. The Parracombe Tithe Map shows the description above appears to identify a small set of enclosures to the north of the farmstead and the road that led to Rowley Cottage from SS 6513 4365 to SS 6522 4375, via SS 6514 4371. At this time, the farmstead was composed of a farmhouse to the south (with a small L shaped outbuilding to its northwest) and a further three buildings at SS 6513 4364, SS 6515 4365 and SS 6517 4365. It is not entirely clear how much of the original fabric of the farmhouse and farmbuilding at SS 6515 4365 currently survives; both buildings at SS 6513 4364 and SS 6517 4365 had been demolished by the time the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey was surveyed and the farmhouse and barn to the north apparently had been much altered in shape if not rebuilt. The enclosures to the north and road between them had been removed (the ground in this area is then shown as rough pasture) and a new footpath is shown leading from SS 6518 4364 to SS 6523 4375 in the road's stead. The farmstead is similarly displayed on the 2nd Edition map, although the rough pasture is no longer shown. [5-8] The site was visited in 1996. The surveyor noted that the house looked to date from the early 20th Century but may have earlier origins, with one ruinous wall of a rubble farm building opposite remaining [presumably the building at SS 6515 4365]. [9] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [10]