MMO1786 - Medieval field system on Countisbury Common (Monument)

A field system of probable medieval date on Countisbury Common is visible on aerial photographs as a series of linear earthworks abutting the extant field boundaries, approximately 350 metres to the west of Kipscombe Combe.

Long low banks on Countisbury Common. Good on 1977 and 1978 aerial photographs. [1-3] Fragments of banked enclosures on either side of Lighthouse Road. Do not appear to belong to a coherent and continuous group of early fields. May be traces of 'rye-breaks' created in medieval and later periods to allow cultivation of an area enclosed from the common. [4] Series of banked enclosures on either side of Lighthouse Road to the west of the enclosed fields of Kipscombe observed during the survey by the National Trust in 2004. The irregular fields do not seem to form a coherent group and may represent temporary 'rye break' created in the medieval period for the use of common land for one season then abandoned. They appear more extensive than originally mapped in 1986 especially between Kipscombe and Coddow Combe. Only one small rectangular enclosure is shown on the historic maps. A series of tracks and hollow ways were identified on Countisbury Common. The main routes form part of a track heading west across the common. [5] A possible Medieval field system is visible on aerial photographs as a series of linear earthworks on Countisbury Common between SS 7565 4985 and SS 7580 4965. It is approximately 350 metres to the west of Kipscombe Combe. The earthworks abut the extant field boundaries to the north-west of Kipscombe Farm, and clearly relate to an earlier phase of enclosure, presumably incomplete or unsuccessful. Faint traces of ridge and furrow between the possibly incomplete field boundaries at circa SS 756501 may indicate further earthwork survival, but these are too poorly defined to transcribe. [6-8] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [9]