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Summary

Extensive area of medieval fields on Holne Moor around Venford Reservoir. Reuse of the parallel reave system apparent in places.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1020091: Prehistoric fields and settlements north east of Venford Reservoir forming part of the Dartmeet coaxial field system
• Scheduled Monument 1020092: Prehistoric fields, settlements and cairn south east of Venford Reservoir forming part of the Dartmeet coaxial field system
• SHINE: Earthwork remains of Bronze Age parallel reave system with medieval fields and fossilised reave system preserved in fields surrounding Stoke Farms, Holne

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67SE155
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 619172
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66NE/222
• Old SAM Ref: 22368
• Old SAM Ref: 22369

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• AGGREGATE FIELD SYSTEM (Early Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD (Between) to 1750 AD (Between))
• FIELD SYSTEM (Early Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD (Between) to 1750 AD (Between))
• STRIP FIELD (Early Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD (Between) to 1750 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 4369 (Aerial Photograph). SDV351061.

Fleming, A. + Ralph, N., 1983, Medieval settlement and land use on Holne Moor, Dartmoor: the landscape evidence [boundaries, livestock management, tin-working, etc], 101-37 (Article in Serial). SDV269817.

A medieval settlement on Holne Moor indicated by field boundaries and cornditches around the Lobes, and the site of a longhouse is also associated with the earthworks. The Lobes are major land units laid out in the 10th century at the latest, and are thought to possibly be pre-conquest. Continued cultivation on the land has all but obliterated the visibility of the reaves which form part of the large Dartmeet system. It is possible that the site saw strip farming early on, but expansion in the 13th century also saw the increasing importance of sheep farming and certainly in the 14th and 15th century boundaries there are 'funnelled' entrances visible and the site was probably under grass. In the 16th and 17th centuries there is evidence for tinning and rabbit husbandry.

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

Field system merges with parallel reave system. There is ridge and furrow at SX69416930.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 176-7, Map 59, Figure 59.1 (Monograph). SDV337765.

Part of medieval field system shown at 'Venford Reservoir East'. Medieval 'Ridge and Furrow' is identified in the most westerly field.

Probert, S. A. J. + Newman, P., 1997, Holne Moor, Dartmoor, Devonshire. A Landscape Survey by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (Report - Survey). SDV173671.

(01/06/1996) SX 680710. The north-east area of Holne Moor is rich in medieval field boundaries which have been examined to establish the history of colonisation of the land. The sequence stretches from the establishment of a small pre-Conquest hamlet through a period of expansion in the C13th of commoners from two nearby manors, to later retrenchment and abandonment.
The major land units called Lobes can be assigned to the C10th or earlier. Cornditches around the Lobes were made in the C11/12th, a major extension occurred in the late C13th - early C14th, and in the C14th and C15th the area reverted to moorland. [See report for full detail].

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7100 - Holne Moor Survey

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