MMO2285 - Medieval or post-medieval charcoal burning platform on Cloutsham Ball (Monument)

A small circular platform is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards, which may be the remains of a charcoal burning platform producing fuel for the medieval or post-medieval local production of iron.

A circular platform approximately 10 metres in diameter is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards, centred on circa SS 8938 4341 above the wooded valley slopes of Cloutsham Ball. It is possible this small terrace is evidence for the burning of wood for charcoal, for use as fuel in medieval or post-medieval iron production. Such platforms were cut into the slopes of heavily wooded valleys to allow the controlled burning of wood close to the source of timber. This platform may have been used to produce fuel for the 16th Century smelting site approximately 550 metres to the northeast in Horner Wood. [1-3] An earthwork platform on the north facing slopes of Cloutsham Ball is probably the remains of a charcoal burning platform. The date of the earthwork is uncertain. [4,5] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [6]