MMO345 - Possible pillow mounds southeast of electricity generating station (Monument)

Three possible pillow mounds are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs up to the 1950s. They have been levelled by 1995, probably by the plough. They were previously thought to be located to the northeast.

SS 7123 4844. McDonnell depicts a linear mound with surrounding ditch, possibly a pillow mound, seen on aerial photographs. [1,2] SS 7123 4844. The location falls in a close cropped pasture field on a quite steep southeast facing slope. No evidence of this alleged pillow mound was found. [3] The earthwork described by the above authority is actually one of three possible pillow mounds visible as earthworks on aerial photographs up to the 1950s. Probably previously erroneously located at SS 7123 4844, the central earthwork is actually sited at circa SS 7113 4833. The central earthwork is a circular mound circa 13 metres in diameter. Approximately 50 metres either side of this mound, roughly to the north and south aligned on the adjacent field boundary, are visible linear mounds just over 20 metres long and 4 metres wide. These are interpreted as probable pillow mounds, the earthwork evidence of a rabbit warren. Such sites were constructed from the medieval period onwards as sources of food, but had their economic heyday during the post-medieval period. It is unclear from the aerial photographs alone in which period these earthworks were constructed. Regardless, they were effectively levelled by 1995, probably by the plough. In conjunction with the possible former mislocation of the pillow mounds, their denuded state may explain why no such earthwork could be located during field investigation. [4-7] 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]