MEM25648 - Possible wheel ruts worn into bedrock on the trackway to Mole's Chamber (Monument)

During surveying work in 2025 a possible pair of wheel ruts were observed as having been worn into a stone surface (likely bedrock) on the trackway to Mole's Chamber. [1] The marks are centred at SS72542 39774 and are two parallel grooves which appear to have been created through multiple instances of passage of wheeled vehicles, likely small carts or handcarts. The marks are part of a tapestry of routeways in this area, including the main medieval trackway recorded as MSO7005 described as the main routeway from Porlock to Barnstaple, surviving best in this section between Driver Farm and Mole's Chamber. The routeway passes roughly west to east, while intersecting smaller routeways meet and cross it at intervals heading from south to north. The routeway is described as having been used only for pack horses and never being "more than a bridlepath" but if these ruts are indeed the result of vehicle traffic the routeway must have been more heavily used by a wider range of travellers than previously believed. [2]