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Summary

Prehistoric settlement on Jordan Ball including a parallel reave system, enclosures and hut circles to the east of the West Webburn river

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Prehistoric settlement on Jordan Ball including a parallel reave system, enclosures and hut circles

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 443131
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NE/49/1
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX67SE94
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• PARALLEL REAVE SYSTEM (Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 701 BC)

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1947, CPE/UK 1980, 1312-1313 (Aerial Photograph). SDV343194.

Fleming, A., 1978, The Prehistoric Landscape of Dartmoor. Part 1: South Dartmoor, 97-123 (Article in Serial). SDV235265.

Field system east of the West Webburn river between the Dartmeet and Windwhistle parallel reave systems.

National Monuments Record, 1979, SF 1459, 31-32 (Aerial Photograph). SDV64329.

Fleming, A., 1983, The Prehistoric Landscape of Dartmoor. Part 2: North and East Dartmoor, 202 (Article in Serial). SDV227880.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, SX67NE (Cartographic). SDV337077.

This appears to be part of the Dartmeet parallel reave system, extending into the enclosed land as fossilised reave systems in the south and the north and into the parallel reaves of Rowden Down. The reaves here are closely spaced with possible enclosures incorporated into it. Visible on 1947, 1977 and 1979 aerial photographs.

Fleming, A., 1988, The Dartmoor Reaves: Investigating Prehistoric Land Divisions (Monograph). SDV229071.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume One - The East, 139-140 (Monograph). SDV299725.

Prehistoric settlement on Jordan Ball. The orientation of the reaves approaching the West Webburn on Corndon Tor is continued on the other side of the river by a set of parallel reaves mounting the northern side of Jordon Ball. The reaves start close to the bank and are lost under the enclosure walls uphill before reappearing on Rowden Ball, the most northerly dictating the course of the steep section of the present Shallowford to Jordan road. The area below the existing field wall across Jordan Ball is particularly stony and no attempt was made to subdivide this part of the hillside. The width of the two centre strips is 43 metres at the uphill end whilst the neighbouring strip to the south is 66 metres, one and a half times this. On the summit a U-shaped enclosure, with a hut of 6.4 metre diameter set across the bank, abuts on to the field wall. Agricultural activity in the form of ridge and furrow over the summit has damaged the banks considerably but a few stones against the reave downhill may be the reamains of a second hut. Other details: Map 19 Site 1.

Gerrard, S., 2004, List of Sites Remaining to be Considered for Designation on Dartmoor (Un-published). SDV345444.

Coaxial fields at Jordan Ball were considered for designation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 2004. Other details: Site 57.

National Monuments Record, 2011, 443131 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV346170.

The Dartmeet Parallel Reaves System covers between 1500 and 2000 hectares. There is no consistency in construction, which may be due to terrain and the amount and type of stone available. The average width of field banks is 1.8 metres and height 0.5 metres though vegetation and peat obscure some walls to a large degree. The amount of clearance within fields is variable, some appearing virtually untouched. Occasionally small groups of fields have been utilized in Medieval or later periods, the walls strengthened by further clearance and the construction of side ditches. Where the moor drops to below the 300 metre contour to the east of the area large blocks of enclosed land in modern use as at the Stokes and Corndon have field patterns which suggest that they probably incorporate eastward extensions of the Prehistoric system.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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