MDE9001 - Prehistoric or medieval stony banks on Trentishoe Down (Monument)

The fragments of field system were noted during a site visit in 1985. They were described as a group of five parallel banks up to 30 paces long, 30 metres wide and 0.2 metres high on the southwest side of Trentishoe Down. [1] At SS 6271 4734 are the remains of four parallel stony banks on a roughly north to south alignment. The features lie within an area recently burnt off, and they almost certainly extend further west into an area of dense heather and tussocky grass. The banks are composed largely of small surface stones and average 1.4 metres wide and 0.3 metres high. They are exactly parallel and are some 9.5 metres apart. The date of these features is uncertain. Superficially they might be seen as prehistoric linear clearance. However, their exact spacing and parallelism suggests that they are medieval or later and possibly associated with either cultivation or land improvement. Surveyed at 1:2500. [2,3] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [4]