MEM23340 - 19th Century drainage ditch near Pinkery Farm (Monument)

This feature belongs to a collection of earthworks which were previously interpreted as a prehistoric field system and associated burial mound (see MSO10133). These have been analysed and reinterpreted as a complex of drainage channels. To ensure the record is clear, child records have been created for each feature and linked to the parent record for the whole complex (MSO10133) where full details of the progression of interpretation can be seen. [1] Field investigation in 2013 noted this feature as a bank,1-2 metres wide, 0.5 metres high with a silted up channel on the northeast (upslope side). This runs for 70 metres southeast-northwest across the spur between Short Combe and Pinkery Farm. These are the remains of a silted up drainage ditch, one of five which drain the spur by channelling water into a series of drainage ditches on the steep slope to the west (MEM23342). The feature has been disturbed and damaged by vehicle tracks. It is earlier than the enclosure banks (MEM23345) and probably dates from 1849-50 when George Groves farmed part of Pinkery from Driver Cott. [2]