MSO6829 - The Warren (Monument)

A group of pillow mounds, of possibly 16th or 17th Century date, on the south facing slopes of the Exe valley south of Warren Farm. An additional earthwork platform may represent the former warrener's cottage.

SS 794 407; SS 7941 4086 [1]. At least four prominent pillow mounds have been located on the slopes south of Warren Farm, and are orientated north-south down the slope (see plan) similar to examples on Dartmoor. They are possibly of 16th or 17th century date and may have been accompanied, as on Dartmoor, by a warrener's house and outbuildings. There are possible remains of buildings at SS 794 406 and of a pound at SS 792 408. [1,2] A group of eight pillow mounds, centred at SS 7950 4065, on the south facing slopes of the Exe Valley below Warren Farm. The mounds are spread out along the valley side over a distance of 1 kilometre. They are all well defined, consisting of a linear mound, sometimes with flanking ditches. Half of the mounds lie across the contour (or run up-and-down the natural slope), the other half lie obliquely to the direction of the natural slope. All of the mounds are well preserved, although three of them have been cut through by later catchwater leats (MSO10939). The mounds cannot be precisely dated, although they are alleged to originate in the 16th or 17th Centuries. A group of earthwork platforms may represent the former Warrener's cottage (MSO10937). Surveyed at 1:2500 scale. N.B. Individual descriptions of these 8 mounds are recorded in records MSO10930 to MSO10936 and MSO10938. [3-6] In addition to the mounds described above, additional earthworks are visible on aerial photographs around Warren Farm. At SS 7914 4071, a narrow bank measuring 17 metres long by 2.5 metres wide can be seen. At SS 7925 4067, a second mound is visible, measuring 9 metres long by 3 metres, while two further mounds are visible at SS 7931 4062 and 7971 4048 measuring 10 metres by 5 metres and 14 metres by 9 metres respectively. These mounds are not as well defined or as well preserved as the eight above, but are similar in form and position, and therefore may well represent the remains of pillow mounds. [7,8] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [9]