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Summary

An oval pit is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs between 1978 and 2007. It appears to underlie and therefore pre-date at least two field boundaries of medieval character. It is possible that the cropmark has formed over a natural feature, but its clear edges suggest an anthropogenic origin.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS32SW/21

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• NATURAL FEATURE? (Unknown date)
• QUARRY? (Early Bronze Age to Late Medieval - 2200 BC to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1978, OS/78038, NMR OS/78038 370-371 10-MAY-1078 (Aerial Photograph). SDV349082.

A pit is visible as a dark cropmark.

Next Perspectives, 2007, Next Perspectives PGA Tile Ref:, Next Perspectives PGA Tile Ref: SS3022 22-AUG-2007 (Aerial Photograph). SDV349178.

A green oval cropmark is visible.

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S., 2011 - 2012, North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV349018.

An oval pit, approximately 65 by 25 metres, is visible as a cropmark in two fields on aerial photographs between 1978 and 2007. The pit manifests as a dark soil mark in 1978, indicating wetter ground, while in 2007 the crop over the pit is green and the rest of the field is brown, indicating differential crop growth perhaps due to moisture retention promoting lusher, more sustained growth in plants over the pit (or perhaps waterlogging impeding growth and maturation). The pit appears to underlie and therefore pre-date at least two field boundaries of medieval character, only one of which, aligned east to west, is extant. The other, aligned roughly north to south, is depicted on the 1840 Tithe map but not the 1880s-1890s Ordnance Survey mapping, presumably having become disused in the second half of the nineteenth century. However the remains of its bank are visible on aerial photographs in 1978 as a pale linear cropmark that overlies the pit. It is very large for an early- or pre-medieval quarry pit, and it is possible that the cropmark has formed over a natural feature, although the sharpness of the edges suggest that it is an artefact of human activity.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV349018	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S.. 2011 - 2012. North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty National Mapping Programme Project. AC Archaeology Report. ACD383/2/1. Digital.
	Linked documents:1
SDV349082	Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1978. OS/78038. Ordnance Survey Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). NMR OS/78038 370-371 10-MAY-1078. [Mapped feature: #61865 ]
SDV349178	Aerial Photograph: Next Perspectives. 2007. Next Perspectives PGA Tile Ref:. Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs. Digital. Next Perspectives PGA Tile Ref: SS3022 22-AUG-2007.

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6132 - North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty NMP Project

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