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Summary

A possible pre-1700 tin openwork aligned east to west on the lower west slope of Hamel Down, with a stream in its base. An archaeological field survey in 1990 recorded a meandering, blunt-V-shaped excavation up to 30 metres wide and 9 metres deep. At the upper end it forks into an arm heading north and the other continuing east. The sides are generally smooth and even. Working debris comprises of scattered upcast mounds of small stones and waste.

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: SX67NE107
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 915449
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NE/218

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). SDV285442.

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

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

Openwork gully at boundary of enclosed land. Visible on 1980 NMR aerial photograph. This openwork appears to pre-date the strip fields, sx67ne/1, which abutt it, and one wall extends across the openwork.

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

(12/06/1990) SX 6978 7971: An openwork from tin extraction, aligned E to W, on the lower W slope of Hamel Down, with a stream in its base.
A meandering, blunted-V-shaped excavation up to 30m across and in places 9m deep, but shallower and narrower towards the base. At the upper end it forks into an arm heading N (where spring water rises) and the other continuing E. The sides are generally smooth and even: only towards the base, centred SX 6958 7965 is there any working debris. Here, on the margins and immediate vicinity are scattered upcast mounds of small stones and waste which extend onto and blend with marsh in the valley bottom at SX 6951 7962. A small dam 3m long and 0.9m high of rough-coursed stones and boulders spans the stream at SX 6956 7965.
The openwork is an earlier landscape feature than the field structure around it: several of the maintained stone walls respect its edges or are built across it. At the lower end a redundant bank of field system SX 67 NE 111 runs along its north side and at the upper end the N fork was utilised as a field edge. At SX 6974 7971 a section of a prehistoric subcircular enclosure SX 67 NE 106 appears to have been cut away by the openwork (1985 project).
Openworks are regarded generally as pre-1700 (Greeves, 1981).
See also SX 67 NE 108, another openwork 50m to the S.
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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