MMO529 - Post-medieval field system on Spangate Land (Monument)

Numerous low banks or walls on the edges of Dunkery Hill forming a field system. [1-4] The remains of a post-medieval field system lie on the southeast edge of Dunkery Hill, centred at SS 915 415. The field system covers an area of some 1 kilometre squared, and may have been associated with the occupation of Spangate, a farmstead across the valley which was deserted very recently (MSO6262). The field system was surveyed using differential GPS as part of the RCHME Exmoor Project. [5] A post-medieval field system is visible on aerial photographs as low earthworks centred on circa SS 915 413, extending for just over 50 hectares (0.5 square kilometres) over Spangate land and the southeastern slopes of Dunkery Hill. A small area of narrow ridge and furrow, probably evidence for post-medieval cultivation, can be seen on Spangate Land. The field system was transcribed as part of the Exmoor National Mapping Programme survey. The remains in more scrubby vegetation to the west of Brockwell iron pits are being recorded by aerial photographic transcription. [1,3,4,6-9] It was later decided that these areas would fall outside the bounds of the aerial survey. [10] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [11,12]