MMO2035 - Medieval field boundaries northwest of Challacombe Common (Monument)

An enclosure was identified on aerial photographs taken in 1947 and 1977 by McDonnell, who observed low banks forming derelict field boundaries on the north side of Challacombe Common. [1-3] SS 6805 4320. A site visit by RCHME in 1993 noted no surface evidence for the enclosure in an area of rough grassland, though it was noted that slight, fragmentary banks may indicate the position of former field boundaries. [4] Medieval field boundaries are visible on aerial photographs as a series of earthworks to the north west of Challacombe Common. Centred at approximately SS 6800 4317, six banks are visible, forming at least three rectangular enclosures, aligned southwest to northeast. The enclosures cover an area measuring approximately 350 by 250 metres, or 8.75 hectares. The northernmost enclosure, at approximately SS 6801 4328, measures 112 metres long by 90 metres wide. To the east of this enclosure and sharing a boundary with it, the second enclosure measures 67 metres long by 125 metres wide. The third enclosure located south of the second enclosure is the largest, measuring 136 metres long by 135 metres wide. At approximately SS 6807 4306, this third enclosure is overlain by a later post medieval or 19th century field boundary. These post-medieval or 19th Century boundaries are aligned north-south, and are very different in size and form to the enclosure boundaries described above. These boundaries appear to represent a medieval attempt at enclosure, abandoned prior to the main period of enclosure during the post-medieval period and 19th Century. They are not depicted on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey, and the area is shown as open moorland, suggesting that the boundaries had been abandoned for quite some time. [5-7] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [8,9]