MDE11181 - Undated field system on Martinhoe Common (Monument)

Miscellaneous angular and curving, low banks forming one large field and several incomplete ones are visible on aerial photographs on Martinhoe Common. [1,2] SS 676 475. The fragmentary remains of a possible field system on Martinhoe Common. McDonnell [2] depicts miscellaneous angular and curving low banks forming one large field and several incomplete ones seen on aerial photographs [1] centred at SS 6767 4758. This area, ploughed since 1947, is now predominantly under pasture. Most of the features referred to by McDonnell have been ploughed out and are only faintly discernible, if at all, as amorphous rises and hollows too poor to warrant survey action. Some of the features (banks and hollow ways are part of site MDE11182. Better preserved remains of a field system (see MDE11182) are visible on the southern slopes of Martinhoe Common. No Survey Action. [3] A possible field system is visible on aerial photographs as a series of earthworks on the western side of Martinhoe Common. The area has been ploughed since 1947 and is currently under pasture, which has much reduced the scale of the earthworks. A precise date for the field system has not been established, although the area is shown as open moorland on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map, suggesting that the fields had been abandoned prior to this date. Prehistoric and Bronze Age field systems with similar alignments are known to exist in the area (see MMO316) but due to the poor preservation of these banks it is unlikely that an accurate date will be established. [4-6] 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]