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Summary

Short lengths of turf-covered stoney banks are traceable on the summit area and the slopes of a rounded knoll centred at SX58796788. The banks which are up to 0.6m high and average 30.0m in length are traceable where they appear to emerge from the fairly deep peat cover in this area. The visible banks do not form any particular pattern but their presence suggests the existence of an extensive field system of prehistoric or early medieval origin which is largely hidden by the peat layer.
Further sections of this system east of the Drizzlecombe Brook originally identified from aerial photographs as leats.

Summary from record MDV55254:
Vis=12/3/1993 (gerrard) sx59326708 to sx59496722. This 224m length of boundary bank lies within an area containing a cluster of neolithic and bronze age ritual and settlement features including 3 stonealignments, at least 22 cairns, 5 enclosures and a large number of associated stone hut circles. Survives as a 1.6m wide rubble bank standing up to 0.6m high and forms part of a field system which covers much of the s and w lower slopes of higher hartor. It appears to slight a prehistoric enclosure, although the relationship can not be proven from surface evidence alone. The alignment of the boundary suggests that it may have been built on the line of an extension of the willings walls reave, although it does appear to have been modified during the historic period (mpp).

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1014145: Three stone alignments, 15 cairns, a cist, a partially enclosed stone hut circle settlement and a small clapper bridge at Drizzle Combe

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56NE212
• National Monuments Record: SX56NE295
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1237909
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1356155
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/368
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/369
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/583
• Old SAM Ref: 24104

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BANK (EARTHWORK) (Early Neolithic to Post Medieval - 4000 BC to 1750 AD (Between))
• FIELD (Early Bronze Age to Post Medieval - 2200 BC to 1750 AD (Between))
• FIELD SYSTEM? (Early Bronze Age to Post Medieval - 2200 BC to 1750 AD (Between))
• (Former Type) LEAT (Early Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1750 AD (Between))

Full description

National Monuments Record, 1983, SF2134, 74-76 (Aerial Photograph). SDV231262.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

SX 5970 6750 Leat on Ditsworthy Warren to the east of the Drizzlecombe Brook visible on 1983 aerial image. North termination at junction with streamwork (SX56NE/377) on north reach of Drizzlecombe. South termination at junction with leat (SX56NE/368) at SX59456732.
SX 5945 6745 Leat on Ditsworthy Warren to the east of Drizzlecombe Brook visible on 1983 aerial image, running between 1175 and 1250 foot contour. Northern termination within streamwork crf:sx56ne/377 on north reach of the Drizzlecombe at SX 59306767. Southern termination at junction with leat crf=sx56ne/374 at SX 59466721.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 133448 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(12/03/1993) SX 59326708 to SX 59496722. This 224m length of boundary bank lies within an area containing a cluster of Neolithic and Bronze Age ritual and settlement features including three stone alignments, at least 22 cairns, 5 enclosures and a large number of associated stone hut circles.
Survives as a 1.6m wide rubble bank standing up to 0.6m high and forms part of a field system which covers much of the southern and western lower slopes of Higher Hartor. It appears to slight a prehistoric enclosure, although the relationship can not be proven from surface evidence alone. The alignment of the boundary suggests that it may have been built on the line of an extension of the Willings Walls Reave, although it does appear to have been modified during the historic period.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, map 49 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Butler, j. /dartmoor atlas of antiquities/3(1994).

Fletcher, M. + Newman, P. + Probert, S., 1999, Drizzlecombe, Eylesbarrow, Ditsworthy and Hartor areas in the Plym Valley, West Devon (Report - Survey). SDV346268.

(19/07/1999) Short lengths of turf-covered stoney banks are traceable on the summit area and the slopes of a rounded knoll centred at SX58796788. The banks which are up to 0.6m high and average 30.0m in length are traceable where they appear to emerge from the fairly deep peat cover in this area. The visible banks do not form any particular pattern but their presence suggests the existence of an extensive field system of prehistoric or early medieval origin which is largely hidden by the peat layer.
Lengths of bank identified during the 1999 English Heritage survey are centred at SX58396785; SX58726782; SX58786786; SX58746803; SX58886796; SX59106799.
Two concentrations of exposed banks which form a more coherent pattern lie on the north-eastern slope of the knoll beyond a narrow openwork : centred at SX59186803 and SX59096786.

Newman, P., 1999, Eylesbarrow (Ailsborough) Tin Mine (Report - Survey). SDV352201.

Wessex Archaeology, 2002, Cramber Tor Training Area Rapid Condition Survey, WA002, WA003, WA004, WA005 (Report - Survey). SDV354588.

Cramber Tor Survey 2002, site WA002, WA003, WA004, WA005.

Probert, S. A. J. + Fletcher, M. J., 2002, Plym Valley survey (Report - Survey). SDV350782.

Newman, P., 2007, Cramber Tor Training Area Monument Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV348210.

(01/08/2006) Turf-Covered Stoney Banks as described in 1999.

Probert, S., 2008, Follow-Up Works to Cramber Tor Archaeological Baseline Condition Survey, Dartmoor Training Area (Report - Survey). SDV351304.

Greeves, T., 2012, Cramber Tor Training Area. Monument Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV350251.

Probert, S. A. J., 2017, A Condition Survey of the Archaeological Sites of the Cramber Tor Training Area, Devon, 2017 (Report - Survey). SDV360392.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4966 - Survey of Drizzlecombe, Eylesbarrow, Ditsworthy and Hartor. The Eylesbarrow archaeological landscape
• EDV6034 - Monument Condition Survey in Cramber Tor Training Area
• EDV6152 - Follow-up Works to Threatened Sites in the Cramber Tor Training Area
• EDV6153 - Monument Baseline Condition Survey in the Cramber Tor Training Area
• EDV6239 - Eylesbarrow (Ailsborough) Tin Mine
• EDV7382 - Condition Survey of the Cramber Tor Training Area
• EDV8155 - Plym Valley Survey: EH Project (Feb 2001 - Dec 2002)
• EDV8711 - Condition Survey of the Cramber Tor Training Area

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