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Summary

Earthwork remains of a pre-1700 tin openwork aligned east-west on the lower west slope of Hamel Down. An archaeological field survey in 1990 recorded the upper section of the openwork as comprising a massive cut 35 metres wide and up to 4 metres deep: it gets narrower and shallower towards the base, eventually fading out. Generally, its sides are steep and the base flattish. Only at the very bottom end are there slight signs of working debris.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021394: Medieval strip fields, tinworks, prehistoric settlements, and a cairn on the lower western slopes of Hamel Down

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67NE108
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 915457
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NE/219

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• EXTRACTIVE PIT (Constructed, Early Medieval to XVII - 1066 AD? (Between) to 1700 AD (Between))
• TIN WORKS (Constructed, Early Medieval to XVII - 1066 AD? (Between) to 1700 AD (Between))

Full description

Untitled Source (Aerial Photograph). SDV285440.

Aph=nmr sf1748/261-271(23/4/1980). Visible on AP's (b).

Greeves, T. A. P., 1981, Medieval Industry, 85-95 (Article in Serial). SDV275197.

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

Openwork gully at boundary of strip fields SX67NE/1, which it appears to pre-date, as the fields follow the line of the gully. Visible on 1980 NMR aerial photograph.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit, P. Pattison (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(12/06/1990) SX 6977 7963: An openwork from tin extraction, broadly aligned E to W but curving S at the upper end, on the lower W slope of Hamel Down. A stream flows in its lower half.
The upper end is a massive cut 35m wide and up to 4m deep: it gets narrower and shallower towards the base, eventually fading out. Generally, its sides are steep and the base flattish. Only at the very bottom end are there slight signs of working debris. A boundary wall of the present field system, of Medieval origin, runs along its S edge and clearly respects it.
50m to the N is another openwork SX 67 NE 107. The area between them has never been brought under arable cultivation, in contrast to the area S of the present openwork and N of SX 67 NE 107: both works acted as a constraint on and clearly pre-date the field layout (for discussion of the field system see SX 67 NE 111). (1)
Openworks are regarded generally as pre-1700 (a).
Surveyed at 1:2500, plan with SX 67 NE 111.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8658 - Challacombe, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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