MMO2414 - Possible post-medieval trackway or drainage cropmarks above Sparcombe Water (Monument)

Two parallel linear ditches are visible on aerial photographs as cropmarks approximately 10 metres apart, 1 metre wide and 120 metres long in a field above Sparcombe Water, Exford parish, centred on circa SS 8200 4073. It is probable the features are significantly longer than 120 metres but beyond this the cropmarks become indistinct. The date and function of the linear features are unclear. The cropmarks are orientated northnorthwest to southsoutheast and although they appear to be aligned on a field boundary of possible medieval origin to the west, this was removed during the second half of the 20th Century. Therefore they could be forming over the remains of a former ditch defined trackway but are more probably evidence of field drains of probable 19th Century date. [1,2]