See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Series of reclamation banks around Exminster marshes shown on historic maps. Date of construction unknown but they became redundant when the canal embankment was built 1826-7.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Network of field ditches and reclamation banks marked on nineteenth century mapping, on Exminster Marshes
• SHINE: Network of field ditches and reclamation banks marked on nineteenth century mapping, on Exminster Marshes

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX98NE/130
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BANK (EARTHWORK) (XIX - 1801 AD to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1801-1807, Untitled Source (Cartographic). SDV336487.

Ordnance Survey, 1906, 92NE (Cartographic). SDV336485.

Ordnance Survey, 1963, SX98NE (Cartographic). SDV336486.

Reclamation banks around Exminster Marshes visible on 1963 6 inch Ordnance Survey map. They stretch from SX96238705 to SX97158500 but also continue to NW and to SW. These sea banks are also recorded on the 1906 map and the Ordnance Survey 3 inch surveyor's draft of 1801-7, when the canal had not been built. The bank continues northward to SX95808782 where commences on a southward re-entrant then turns north to SX95388804, then inland. There is a further bank to the east, indicating a further reclamation phase.
The Ordnance Survey 3 inch surveyors draft records an outer reclamation bank prior to the construction of the canal and presumably later than the inner bank. This is also marked on the 1906 and 1963 6 inch maps, but at these dates the bank had been partly replaced by drains. It runs off the main bank at SX96278731 and rejoins at SX95678778.

Collings, A. G., 1995, Archaeological Assessment of RSPB Reserves at Exminster Marshes and Bowling Green March, Topsham (Report - Assessment). SDV298230.

Seabanks running from SX95398860 to SX96358598. 19th century maps show them to have extended for a length of some 2.5km over the eastern half of assessment site. In places they occurred in parallel, indicating successive stages of reclamation. Date of construction unknown, but they became redundant when construction of the canal extension in 1826 and 1827 created an embankment further east. The c.1839 Tithe Map shows only short lengths of the original system, suggesting that much had already been levelled, although some other parts have survived until the present.

Dyer, M. J., 1998, Archaeological Observation and Recording at Exminster Marshes (Report - non-specific). SDV336369.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.