MEM24186 - Medieval and post-medieval peat cuttings on Old Barrow Down (Monument)

Numerous irregular, shallow pits and hollows are within an area of disused turbary. They are different in character to those in the Royal Forest and may represent medieval and early post-medieval turbaries, worked by the farms bordering the open moorland.

SS 84038 32514. Numerous irregular, shallow pits and hollows on the north side of Old Barrow Down is an area of disused turbary. A typical example to the northeast of the cairn MSO8746 is a shallow, water filled rectangular pit, 2 metres north to south, 4 metres east to west and 0.3 metres deep. The peat cuttings are very different to those in the Royal Forest around Simonsbath which date from the 19th and 20th Centuries and may well represent medieval and early post-medieval turbaries, worked by the farms which border the former open moorland. [1]