MMO1954 - Late prehistoric or early medieval sub rectangular enclosure southeast of Caffyns Cross (Monument)

A sub-rectangular enclosure of uncertain date is inferred from a range of evidence visible on aerial photographs, including field boundary patterns, low earthworks and cropmarks. The possible enclosure is located on a gentle north facing slope above the Barbrook, centred on circa SS 7032 4710. The wider field system in this are is one predominantly of enclosure of fields based on bundles of strip fields, probably of medieval origin, typified by long narrow fields with sinuous or curved boundaries. A former field boundary that appears slightly anomalous in this pattern demarcates the northern edge of this possible enclosure. Centred on circa SS 7035 4715, this boundary is marked on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1890 and survived as an earthwork into the 1950s, after which it was removed to be replaced with a straight hedgebank. It is possible the hedgerow was placed on an earlier earthwork bank or was positioned to skirt an earlier landscape feature. A possible cropmark visible on one print taken in June 1976 roughly defines the southern limit of the possible enclosure, and may indicate the presence of a former ditch. The date of this feature is uncertain. It may be a large hillslope enclosure of late prehistoric date or a field enclosure of early medieval origin, predating the surrounding strip field system. [1-4] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [5]