MMO480 - Medieval field system on Clannon Ball and Holcombe Burrows (Monument)

Centred at SS 7550 4400 are the remains of an extensive medieval or later field system, first recorded from aerial photographs as a series of low banks forming long curving boundaries and fields. [1-4] The remains extend over the predominantly southwest slopes of Clannon Ball and Holcombe Burrows, which form the eastern side of Farley Water. They comprise and extensive system of curvilinear banks forming irregular fields and incomplete enclosures. There is no trace of associated settlement. [5] The field system described above is clearly visible on aerial photographs, extending from Clannon Ball in the South as far as Pig Hill and covering an area more than 1.4 kilometres in length. In places the field banks have been eroded by water running alongside them, leaving a ditch or cut feture adjacent to the former location of the bank. The form of the enclosures and field system strongly suggest a medieval, piecemeal pattern of enclosure. The banks are not depicted on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1889 and the area is shown as open moorland, suggesting the system had been abandoned some time prior to publication. [6-9] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [10]