MEM22674 - Post-medieval prospecting trench on The Chains (Monument)

The Historic Environment Officer for the Exmoor Mires Project undertook a non-intrustive walkover survey of the proposed mire restoration area on The Chains, which included this site. Noted was a sub-rectangular hollow with a mound on its eastern side. The hollow was 6 metres long, 2 metres wide and 0.9 metres deep, while the mound measured 10 metres in length, was 3 metres wide and 0.5 metres high. The feature lies at the end of a drainage channel to the northwest of Pinkery Pond and is probably a small prospecting trench dating to the mid-19th Century. [1] A large scale metric survey of the Pinkworthy (or Pinkery) Pond environs was undertaken by Hazel Riley in 2012 as part of the Exmoor Mires Project. A subrectangular hollow was visible, measuring 6 metres long, 2 metres wide and 0.9 metres deep, with a mound on its east edge measuring 10 metres long, 3 metres wide and 0.5 metres high. This hollow lies at the end of a drainage channel located to the northwest of Pinkworthy (or Pinkery) Pond. This is a small trial trench used in prospecting for ironstone and dates from the mid-19th Century. [2]