MMO2787 - Medieval field boundary east of South Whitefield Farm (Monument)

A short length of a bank is visible on aerial photographs as an earthwork on former moorland. It resembles a former medieval field boundary, and may mark the limits of the extant fields to the south, as it aligns closely with them.

A short length of a bank is visible on aerial photographs as an earthwork on former moorland east of South Whitefield Farm, Brayford. Centred at approximately SS 7083 3589, the bank runs east to west for some 230 metres, turning inwards to the south at both ends. At the western end this inturn is cut by the post medieval footpath which is still in use today. The bank resembles a former field boundary, and may mark the limits of the extant fields to the south, as it aligns closely with them. Other field boundaries on Whitefield Down to the north-east are believed to date to a medieval enclosure attempt, and it is likely that this boundary is contemporary with the system. Like the larger field system, this bank is not depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map, and the area is shown as open moorland, indicating the bank had been abandoned long enough to be invisible and for the area to revert to moorland. Whitefield Down has been further enclosed and ploughed throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the bank is not apparent on later photographs of the area, suggesting it has been levelled by ploughing. [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]