MDE11705 - Post-medieval turbary marker stones on Lyn Down (Monument)

22 marker stones once denoted the boundaries of turf-cutting allotments and are shown on the Ordnance Survey 25 inch maps of 1887 and 1904. The stones have been cleared from their settings, though some still appear to be in the vicinity.

SS 7271 4762. The sites of twenty two turbary marker stones which once denoted the boundaries of turf cutting allotments were recorded on the northern summit of Lyn Down. On early Ordnance Survey maps these stones are depicted across an area of some 8 hectares of enclosed moorland on Lyn Down. On the 1887 Ordnance Survey map there are 19 stones shown [1] and on the 1904 map 20 stones are shown (17 of the stones are the same) [2]. When visited by Chanter and Worth in 1906 the area was about to be broken for cultivation and they state that "it was formally assigned to turbary allotments and that numerous stones were scattered over the surface the greater number of which were bound stones" [3]. The stones have all been removed and the area is now permanent pasture. Various stones, some broken and others fairly small, which may be uprooted and cleared turbary markers, were identified in the area. A stone at the base of a hedge, (inside the field at SS 72742 47523) is visible as a grey slab, 1 metre long, 0.5 metres wide and 0.2 metres thick. At SS 7274 4753 (10 metres south of the Triangulation Pillar) is a pile of debris containing about a dozen similar slabs. Although the turbary bound stones have been removed their former presence, marking the boundaries of the turf cutting allotments, is very important as there appears to be little evidence for the marking out of these areas on Exmoor. (Note: At SS 72723 47525 and SS 72723 47533 are two earthfast upright stones. These are re-erected stones, probably prehistoric standing stones, and not turbary stones. To avoid confusion they have been treated as a separate site (MDE1250)). [4] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [5]