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Summary

The remains of a small area of ridges, probably made for fruit tree planting and improved orchard drainage from the post-medieval to mid-19th century, were visible as low parallel earthwork banks on aerial photographs of 1947 and digital images derived from lidar data captured between 1998 and 2014, on the west-facing slopes south of Hembury Hill Farm, Payhembury parish.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ORCHARD (Post Medieval to XX - 1540 AD to 1947 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

The visible earthworks fall within a plot depicted as an orchard.

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1974, RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2453-2454 11-APR-1947 (Aerial Photograph). SDV356127.

Narrowly spaced ridges were visible as earthworks under very sparse light tree cover.

Environment Agency, 1998-2014, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution), LIDAR ST1003 Environment Agency DTM 01-JAN-1998 to 30-SEP-2014 (Cartographic). SDV359177.

Low parallel banks were visible as earthworks on the southern half of the former orchard plot.

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R., 2016-2018, The Blackdown Hills AONB and East Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV359463.

The remains of ridges or narrow banks were visible as low parallel earthwork banks, on aerial photographs of 1947 and digital images derived from lidar data captured between 1998 and 2014, on the west-facing slopes south of Hembury Hill Farm, Payhembury parish.
The surviving earthworks fall within a plot depicted as an orchard on the Ordnance Survey First Edition 25 inch map. The earthworks can therefore be interpreted the remains of tree planting banks made for fruit tree planting and improved drainage, dating probably from the post-medieval period to the mid-19th century.
The most clearly visible banks can be seen to the south of a modern field boundary that sub-divides the former orchard plot. North of this boundary differential erosion, probably due to ploughing, has reduced the banks to earthworks too low to be accurately transcribed.
The orchard was also probably located to take advantage of the shelter provided by a former extractive pit on the north side of the former orchard, also depicted on the OS First Edition map, and therefore not transcribed as part of the survey.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV336179	Cartographic: Ordnance Survey. 1880-1899. First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map. First Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map. Map (Digital). [Mapped feature: #76642 ]
SDV356127	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1947. RAF/CPE/UK/1974. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/CPE/UK/1974 FS 2453-2454 11-APR-1947.
SDV359177	Cartographic: Environment Agency. 1998-2014. LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution). Environment Agency LiDAR data. Digital. LIDAR ST1003 Environment Agency DTM 01-JAN-1998 to 30-SEP-2014.
SDV359463	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R.. 2016-2018. The Blackdown Hills AONB and East Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project. Historic England Research Report. Digital.
	Linked documents:2

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7508 - The Blackdown Hills AONB and East Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme (NMP) project (Ref: ACD1228)

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