A large circular sheepfold. It is 18 metres in diameter within a turf bank 3 metres wide and up to 1.1 metres high. The turf has come from a surrounding external ditch about
2 metres wide and 0.5 metres deep. There is a causewayed entrance about 1 metre wide at the northwest. It is reminiscent of sheep stells in the Scottish Borders. According to Burton [6], Robert Little, a shepherd from Dumfries-shire employed by Frederic Knight in the mid-19th century, mentions the construction of circular sheep stells as an inexpensive method of farming sheep in his notebook in 1879. It seems likely that he introduced this particular technique to Exmoor, perhaps as a direct result of the adverse weather conditions in 1878, in which many sheep were lost on Exmoor.
Age: moderate distinctive for 19th century Exmoor shepherding
Rarity: one of a number of sheepfolds / stells
Distinctive Design: distinctive but other examples of ova /round enclosures
Historical Association: Knight and named Scottish shepherds as well as Hoar Oak Cottage
Evidential Value: not complex but otherwise poorly documented so physical remains are significant
Social Communal Value: less distinctive in the landscape than many of the sheep folds but associated with the shepherding at Hoar Oak Cottage which has higher
ranking Social and Communal ranking for its significance to the ‘Friends of Hoar Oak Cottage’. On PROW and well-known.
Group Value: fairly isolated although some farming evidence – field walls and distant farmstead / cottage
Collective Value: one of a group of sheep folds or stells developed on the Knight Estate in the former Royal Forest
Strong association with the Knight estate