MSO9231 - Medieval or post-medieval field system on Kitnor Heath (Monument)

Field banks on Kitnor Heath. Mainly low narrow earth banks with some large standing stones. Typologically post-medieval, predating present enclosure fields. Formerly included in MSO9193. [1,2] Kitnor Heath is an area of heather moorland with extensive areas of dense gorse at its eastern end. Although some field banks were noted, there does not appear to have been an extensive attempt to enclose this area. The standing stones were not located (they are presumably uprights within the field boundaries), although these might lie within the areas of gorse. The date of the field banks is presumably late medieval or post-medieval. [3] Field banks are visible as earthworks on Kitnor Heath, Cutcombe parish, on aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards, centred on circa SS 8732 3986. The Exmoor National Mapping Programme survey has recorded boundaries laid out east to west along the north facing slopes of Kitnor Heath above the River Quarme, defining a complex of up to 8 fields covering an area of over 13 hectares. Although the easternmost earthworks might be boundary banks associated with Down Cleeve Plantation, this is interpreted as representing a serious attempt to enclose this area. Unsurprisingly the reported standing stones were not visible on the aerial photographs available to the survey. [4-6] 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]