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Summary

The remains of ridges possibly made for fruit tree planting and improved orchard drainage in the post-medieval period or 19th century were visible as low parallel earthwork banks on aerial photographs of 1946 within an Old Marl Pit north of Higher Westcot, Talaton parish.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ORCHARD (Post Medieval to XIX - 1540 AD to 1840 AD (Between))

Full description

South West Heritage Trust, 1838-1848, Digitised Tithe Maps and Transcribed Apportionments (Cartographic). SDV359954.

Plot 11a is listed as Pit Orchard.

Devon County Council, 1838-1848, Tithe Mosaic, approximately 1838-1848 (Cartographic). SDV349431.

The visible earthworks do not correspond with a plot depicted as an orchard.

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

The visible earthworks do not correspond with a plot depicted as an orchard.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1823, RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RS 4234-4235 04-NOV-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV354994.

Banks were visible as earthworks divided by ditches on two axes.

Environment Agency, 1998-2014, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution), LIDAR ST0600 Environment Agency DTM 01-JAN-1998 to 30-SEP-2014 (Cartographic). SDV359177.

The banks were possibly visible as very slight earthworks.

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

Narrow ridges were visible as low parallel earthwork banks on aerial photographs of 1946 onwards. The visible earthwork banks were spaced up to circa 5 metres apart and covered an area of circa 0.1 hectares.
The visible earthworks do not correspond with an orchard depicted on the First Edition 25 inch Ordnance Survey map, which depicts and annotates this plot as an Old Marl Pit. The Tithe Apportionments for Talaton list this plot as an orchard named Pit Orchard. The establishment of orchards and woodland within former extractive pits has been frequently noted by the survey. The earthworks are therefore interpreted as evidence of an orchard that had passed out of use between circa 1840 and 1880.
The banks might be visible as slight earthworks on digital images derived from lidar data captured between 1998 and 2014.
The Old Marl Pit is recorded separately and as it is depicted on the OS First Edition map has not been transcribed by 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).
SDV349431	Cartographic: Devon County Council. 1838-1848. Tithe Mosaic, approximately 1838-1848. Digitised Tithe Map. Digital.
SDV354994	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/CPE/UK/1823. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RS 4234-4235 04-NOV-1946. [Mapped feature: #77442 ]
SDV359177	Cartographic: Environment Agency. 1998-2014. LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution). Environment Agency LiDAR data. Digital. LIDAR ST0600 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
SDV359954	Cartographic: South West Heritage Trust. 1838-1848. Digitised Tithe Maps and Transcribed Apportionments. Tithe Map and Apportionment. Digital.

Associated Monuments

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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