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Summary

Field system on Crownhill Down comprising narrow linear strips sub-divided by low thin banks, stony lines or narrow ditches possibly of Medieval or Post Medieval date

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1003201: Barrow cemetery on western slope of Crownhill Down

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 439510
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/138/1
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX56SE141

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FIELD SYSTEM (Unknown date)

Full description

Edwards, C., 1979, An archaeological survey of an area surrounding Hemerdon Ball (Report - Survey). SDV337241.

Site visited on 13th June 1979. Two possibly Prehistoric earth and stone walls running north-west downslope. a) SX56896022 to SX56786032, length 150 metres, width 0.5 metres, height 0.1metres. b) SX56896020 to SX56856023, length 30 metres, width 0.5 metres, height 0.1 metres.
Site visited on 14th June 1979. Pair of parallel possibly Prehistoric boundaries of earth and intermittent stones. Running north-west downslope from SX57186023 to SX57016029. Five metres apart and cut by a leat supplying 'Drain' to Wheal Florence at SX57096027. To the south are some isolated and very small cairn heaps which may have been intended for the base of a wall. Length 180 metres, height 0.2 metres, width 1 metre.
Site visited on 16th June 1979. a) a Medieval earth and stone bank, ditched on the south side, runs from SX57266051, north-west to SX57036064. Cut by leat supplying Wheal Florence at SX57126061. Length 270 metres, width 1.5 metres and height 0.2 metres. b) a Medieval bank runs noth-north-east from its juncture with the aforementioned at SX57086062 to SX57126073 along the line of the Sparkwell/Shaugh Prior parish boundary. Length 120 metres, width 1 metre, height 0.2metres.
Site visited on 27th June 1979. c). An earth and stone field wall runs west of and parallel to Bottle Hill Leat from SX57286060 to SX57446090 (to join the field system) with an associated rectangular shape kinking it centred at SX57356081. The function of this rectangular area, which appears to be open ended at its lower end, is obscure. Length 340 metres, height 0.2 metres.
Site visited on 12th July 1979. At least eight parallel boundary lines run south-east between two parallel leats (supplying the streamworks). Very denuded. Earth and intermittent stones. Possibly Prehistoric. Average distance apart 10 metres with length between 180-250 metres, width between 0.3-0.5 metres and height 0.1 metres. i) SX56816000-SX57005993 ii) SX56826001-SX57005995 iii) SX56826002-SX57075995 (cut by bomb crater at SX57015995) iv) SX56836003-SX57005998) running parallel 3 metres apart. v) SX56836003-SX57005998) running parallel 3 metres apart. vi) SX56836003-SX57085997 vii) SX56836004-SX57085998 viii)SX56846004-SX57085999.

Fleming, A., 1980, Portworthy Mica Dam: Report on Archaeological Features (Report - Survey). SDV343629.

Two parallel low banks running east to west are possibly Prehistoric but more likely to be part of a primitive field system.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX56SE141 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV343647.

Curious field system centred at SX56905992 and bounded by two leats. Field boundaries are of single lines of stones or of earth 0.3 metres wide and 0.1 metres high. Parallel and spaced at intervals of 20 metres to 22 metres in the north-east half of the area. More widely spaced in the south-west. The strips are approximately 210 metres long and 20 metres wide with a drainage furrow roughly central. Could be Prehistoric but the layout suggests 18th/19th century allotment strips of a furlong by a chain in size, subsequent to the construction of the Bottle Hill Mine leats.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1980, Untitled Source (Personal Comment). SDV343645.

Site visited on 11th April 1980. An erect stone at SX57086022 may be related to this field system or it may be a boundary stone or route marker relating to the footpath.

Gilbertson, D. + Collis, J., 1982, Mapping Three Millennia of Settlement and Land Use on Crownhill Down, South West Dartmoor (Article in Serial). SDV362901.

Medieval field system extending from SX57206050 to SX56905975. Survey recorded no Prehistoric boundaries in this area. Irregularly spaced boundaries running south-east to north-west between two leats. At their best preserved they survuve as a mound of soil 0.3 -0.4 metres across and 0.1-0.2 metres high. More usually visible as a line of stones up to 0.2 m-0.3metres diameter. Best preserved on the upper slopes; scarcely visible on lower slopes. Disturbed near both leats. Integral with the banks and running paralles with them are a series of ditches of the same general dimensions and about 0.1 metres deep. They approximately bisect the distance between certain of the banks. One of the ditched banks has a sharp profile typical of a Medieval date.

Gilbertson, D. + Collis, J., 1985, Linear Banks on Crownhill Down, Dartmoor (Article in Serial). SDV337244.

Medieval field system extending from SX57206050 to SX56905975. Survey recorded no Prehistoric boundaries in this area. Irregularly spaced boundaries running south-east to north-west between two leats. At their best preserved they survuve as a mound of soil 0.3 -0.4 metres across and 0.1-0.2 metres high. More usually visible as a line of stones up to 0.2 m-0.3metres diameter. Best preserved on the upper slopes; scarcely visible on lower slopes. Disturbed near both leats. Integral with the banks and running paralles with them are a series of ditches of the same general dimensions and about 0.1 metres deep. They approximately bisect the distance between certain of the banks. One of the ditched banks has a sharp profile typical of a Medieval date.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, SX56SE (Cartographic). SDV336987.

A parallel reave system is visible on a north-east to south-west alignment with two attached hut circles on the 1985 interpretation.

Pye, A. R. + Noble, S. + Turton, S. D., 1993, Archaeological survey of part of Crownhill Down, Shaugh Prior, 8 (Report - Survey). SDV337249.

A low bank without a ditch (Number 69) is possibly Prehistoric or Late Medieval and two parallel banks (Number 62), separated by a ditch or narrow hollow way, form part of a temporary Late Medieval enclosure on Crownhill Down after disafforestation in 1239.

National Monuments Record, 2002, 439510 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV343648.

An impressive but fragile field system tentatively identified as outfield cultivation dated to the Medieval or Post Medieval period. Located on a fairly steep north-west facing slope it comprises narrow parallel strips which are demarcated either by stony lines or narrow channels no more than 0.2 metres high and 0.2 metres deep respectively.

Fletcher, M., 2002, The Archaeological Landscape of Crownhill Down and Ridding Down: Survey Report, 5 (Report - Survey). SDV343412.

Fairly unique field pattern on a moderate slope in the central part of Crownhill Down comprises narrow linear strips of sloping ground sub-divided by low thin banks, stony lines or narrow ditches; occasionally the bank has an associated ditch. The stony lines and thin banks are no more than 0.2 metres high. There is no obvious enclosure bank although two disused contour leats appear to delimit the area, which could have been bounded by a timber fence. They were tentatively identified as Medieval or Post Medieval outfield cultivation. A second but much smaller area of strips, again apparently unenclosed, lies to the south of the road on the southern edge of Crownhill Down. Other details: Figure 3 and Crownhill Down Survey.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4559 - Archaeological Landscape of Crownhill Down and Riddding Down

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