MMO2049 - Medieval and post-medieval routeway south of North Barton (Monument)

A medieval hollow way or road is visible on aerial photographs as a substantial earthwork. It forms part of the original road linking Barton Town, Withecombe Gate and Barton Gate, which is shown on the Tithe Map for Challacombe Parish.

A medieval hollow way or road is visible on aerial photographs as a substantial earthwork in a field to the south of North Barton, Challacombe. Centred at approximately SS 6824 4105, the roadway runs in a diagonal line from northeast to southwest, beginning at SS 6834 4114 and ending at SS 6812 4095. It measures approximately 290 metres long and between 7 and 8 metres wide. The central trackway is slightly sunken and is flanked on each side by a narrow bank, which is fragmented in places. At the southwestern end of the road, at SS 6815 4097 a second slight bank is visible running north to south at 90 degrees to the extant field boundary and abutting the bank around the road. This bank may be all that remains of a field system contemporary with the road. The road is depicted on both the early editions of the Ordnance Survey map and on modern maps, but appears to predate the field in which it lies, since the field boundaries block the road at both ends. The road is blocked on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map which would suggest that it was out of use prior to publication in 1889. The fields around Barton Town are covered with medieval strip fields and lynchets, indicating that these fields were in use during the medieval period, although the layout and structure of these medieval fields is not clear (see MMO1215). This road may be part of the original road into Barton Town, 400 metres to the southwest, which has at least two roads or trackways which appear to lead to dead ends. A connection between either of these lanes and the roadway described above may have existed and been destroyed. [1-4] The full routeway is depicted on the Tithe Map for Challacombe, running between the northern corner of the churchyard at Challacombe (SS 6799 4065) and Barton Gate (SS 6889 4122), with a branch leaving the road at SS 6834 4114 and heading up to Withecombe Gate (SS 6840 4134). The GIS mapping for the record has been updated to reflect this. [5,6] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [7]