MMO1942 - Prehistoric or medieval parallel ditches on Lyn Down (Monument)

Two parallel ditches, visible on aerial photographs as cropmarks on Lyn Down, may be the remains of a track or road of medieval date, or boundary markers of late prehistoric date. Part of a wider complex of cropmark features on Lyn Down and Stock Common, these ditches are centred on circa SS 7251 4712. The ditches are between 3 and 8 metres wide, and up to 8 metres apart. They cross a low neck of land between, and can be interpreted as connecting Small Combe to the north-east and Stockwater Combe to the south-west, or effectively seperating two hill tops to the north and south. If they performed a territorial function, the ditches may be associated with similar, although more widely spaced features to the south, and the Iron Age enclosed settlements of Stock Castle and Roborough Castle. [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]