MSO7910 - Undated field boundaries on Porlock Allotment (Monument)

SS 83994312 and SS 83904270. Two short lengths of bank, 50.0 metres and 12.0 metres long respectively, within 008 degrees of the same orientation were recorded on Porlock Allotment. The parish boundary between Porlock and Exmoor is on a similar orientation and may represent the fossilization of another element in a possible field system. (Listed under prehistoric). SS 8389 4270: Short irregular length of low bank with some stones showing. 0.3 metres high, 2.5 metres wide and 11.2 metres long. Both ends fade abruptly and squarely. Possibly a field boundary bank but possibly a dump of stones for walled bank to southeast. [1] Various sections of field boundaries of uncertain date are visible to the south of the headwaters of Weir Water. They are not conclusively part of the same system and are generally fragmentary. They are confused by later activity in the area, including the Simonsbath to Porlock Railway (MSO7906) and drains, such as the two converging drainage features at SS 8388 4334. The field boundaries comprise: At SS 8399 4309 is a short stretch of stony bank, 1.6 metres wide and 0.4 metres high. At SS 8383 4299 is an L-shaped length of stony bank in a patch of bracken and reeds. At SS 8402 4333 is a bank and ditch flanking the southern side of the trackbed of the Simonsbath to Porlock Railway. All features surveyed with GPS, August 1996. [2] SS 8399 4308: The north bank is a broad low stone bank 50 paces long, 4 paces wide and 0.4 metres high. This is a fairly irregular feature that fades out at each end. [3] SS 8399 4308: A well-defined bank in short vegetation which kinks halfway. Further bank at right angles to the south-west. Parish boundary is not on the same orientation and runs between two barrows. [4] SS 8383 4299: Bank running at right angles to the field boundary at SS83904270. Two visible lengths are low, stony and marked by heather in surrounding grass. Probing between these reveals the peat to be level with the top of the bank, making the feature the only proven instance in this area of peat masking a bank. Total length 60 metres. A very high and exposed site. The bank is an element of coaxial land division. [5] SS 839 434: Short length of slight bank some 30 metres long. Some stones visible. SS 838 436: Two lengths of slight field bank. Stony under heather. Main bank runs down slope for approximately 50 metres. Other bank joins near lower end at right angles but then curves. [6] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [7]