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Summary

The earthwork remains of field boundary banks of probable later prehistoric to medieval or post-medieval date are recorded overlooking the coastal cliffs at Littlecombe Shoot. The earliest phase possibly dates to the Iron Age but the earthworks possibly continued in use throughout the Roman period before being incorporated into larger medieval or post medieval field systems. The earthwork banks are visible on digital images derived from aerial photographs and Lidar data.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1020710: Prehistoric field system on the cliffs above Littlecombe Shoot

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 448925
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SY18NE/27/21
• Old SAM County Ref: 852
• Old SAM Ref: 33049

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CLEARANCE CAIRN (Early Iron Age to Roman - 700 BC to 409 AD)
• FIELD SYSTEM (Early Iron Age to Post Medieval - 700 BC to 1750 AD (Between))

Full description

Department of Environment, 1971, Round Barrows and Enclosure on Cliff Above Littlecombe Shoot (Schedule Document). SDV342860.

Visited 09/12/1970. Group of six round barrows and an irregular earthen enclosure. Banked enclosure of uncertain date, 120 yards by 70 yards. Bank a maximum of 4 feet high with slight traces of external ditch on downhill side. Northern edge of earthwork destroyed by footpath. Other details: Map.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1989, Berry Cliff Camp, Branscombe (Report - Survey). SDV342856.

Multi period field system covering 3.5 hectares, situated on a narrow grassland corridor close to the cliff edge above Littlecombe Shoot. May have extended further inland, but have been obliterated by ploughing.
I. A small number of fields (possibly 5) defined by strong lynchets. They are incomplete, but appear squarish in plan, becoming more irregular towards point. Probably Celtic type. Cairns appear to sit on two of these boundaries. Just to north a slight east-west scarp may indicate field subdivisions.
2. In central area a series of slight scarps, furrows and low broad ridges running north-north-west-south-south-east. Apparently irregular ridge and furrow. One furrow cuts a cairn, while 2 cairns have tail scarps perhaps indicating plough action. May be medieval/postmedieval with 1930s and 1940s contribution.
3. Two long boundaries defining parts of what were probably large rectilinear fields. One is a lynchet, apparently overlying a ridge. The other runs north-south as a bank, turning east to continue as a slight lynchet. Cut by present hedgebank.
4. Two long straight boundaries at west and east ends of the site. One is a bank of rounded profile cutting across fields of group 1, running into scrub on cliff edge. The other is similar but slighter, probably turning west to run parallel to cliff edge. Both have a slight ditch on one side. Their convergence precludes their definition of a trackway. Groups 3 and 4 probably represent redundant boundaries once part of the surviving field pattern, 3 being the earlier. Part of the 'Celtic' field group is scheduled as an 'irregular earthen enclosure'. Other details: Plan.

Environment Agency, 1998-2011, Lidar data JPEG SY18NE DTM, LIDAR SY18NE DSM Environment Agency 1998-2011 (Cartographic). SDV356237.

Earthwork banks and possible mounds are visible. Map object based partly on this source.

Next Perspectives, 2001, Next Perspectives PGA Tile Ref:, Next Perspectives PGA Imagery SY1888 15-AUG-2001 (Aerial Photograph). SDV349376.

Earthwork banks are visible. Map object based partly on this source.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2002, Prehistoric Field System On The Cliffs Above Littlecombe Shoot (Schedule Document). SDV342858.

The monument includes the best surviving part of a prehistoric field system, comprising a number of field banks and associated clearance cairns, all surviving as low earthworks located on a gently sloping clifftop overlooking Lyme Bay. Although not precisely dated, the fields are small and roughly square which suggests an Iron Age origin, with usage perhaps continuing into the Roman period, before the fields were encapsulated within larger medieval or post-medieval field boundaries. The fields lie just to the west of Berry Cliff Camp, a hillfort which is believed to date from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, and the subject of a separate scheduling (SM29637).
The field system is defined to the south by lynchets (field banks and scarps resulting from prehistoric cultivation techniques). These lynchets occupy a narrow strip of clifftop about 270 metres in length with a maximum width away from the cliff edge of about 100 metres. Although it is likely that the field system once extended further inland, modern farming techniques have removed all upstanding traces apart from those close to the cliff. The visible remains also include a series of scarps and banks with many of the scarps lying parallel to the cliff edge whilst the banks lie for the most part at right angles to it. Where surveyed in 1989 by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME), the banks were found to be between 2-4.5 metres long and 0.5-2 metres wide. Together, the banks and scarps define five or six small fields. Associated with the fields are a number of stone cairns some of which lie on the field banks. These cairns, of which there are about a dozen, are considered to be the result of field clearance and are probably contemporary with the prehistoric working of the fields; they survive as low earth covered piles of flint and stone. Previous commentators have suggested that they might be prehistoric barrows or burial mounds but there is no evidence to support this view. The prehistoric fields have been worked at later periods, perhaps into the medieval and early post-medieval periods, and incorporated into larger rectilinear fields as is evidenced by a long field bank which runs from the monument to a position to its east and a bank and ditch which clearly cuts across the earlier prehistoric field system where it survives on its western side.
The prehistoric field system on the cliff edge above Littlecombe Shoot is one of only a very few to survive in the south-west away from moorland, and its partial survival is almost certainly due to its proximity to the cliff edge which has resulted in less intensive agricultural exploitation. The small size of the fields, typically no larger than 50 square metres with some much smaller, are characteristic of Iron Age or Romano-British fields. The monument survives well as a series of definable banks and scarps with associated clearance cairns forming the recognisable remains of a prehistoric field system. It will retain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the agricultural exploitation of the land in the later centuries of the first millennium BC into the early years of the first millennium AD, and will be informative about the agricultural practices of this period. Other details: Map.

Exeter Archaeology, 2003-2004, East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Archaeological Survey, 157 (Archive - Survey). SDV351568.

Multi-period field system covering 3.5 hectares in narrow grassland corridor close to cliff edge. May have extended further inland, but obliterated by ploughing. Four phases identified being broadly: 'Celtic' fields defined by lynchets (prehistoric); irregular ridge and furrow (mainly medieval/post-medieval); two systems of long boundaries. Part of the 'Celtic' field group is scheduled as an 'irregular earthen enclosure'.

Environment Agency, 2006-2007, LiDAR data JPEG image (1 metre resolution), LIDAR SY 1888 Environment Agency D0075797 Nov 2006 - Mar 2007 (Cartographic). SDV356180.

Earthwork banks and possible mounds are visible. Map object based partly on this source.

Environment Agency, 2006-2007, LiDAR data JPEG image (1 metre resolution), LIDAR SY 1888 Environment Agency D0075801 Nov 2006 - Mar 2007 (Cartographic). SDV356180.

Earthwork banks and possible mounds are visible. Map object based partly on this source.

National Monuments Record, 2009, 448925 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV342861.

Earthwork remains of multi-period field systems. It is thought the earliest phase dates to the Iron Age. These fields may have continued in use throughout the Roman period before being incorporated into larger medieval or post medieval field systems. Other details: SY18NE 21; Last updated 2002.

English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009: South West, 96 (Report - non-specific). SDV342694.

Generally satisfactory but with minor localised problems. Principal vulnerability from coastal erosion.

English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010: South West, 87 (Report - non-specific). SDV344777.

English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011: South West, 89 (Report - non-specific). SDV355280.

Generally satisfactory but with minor localised problems. Declining. Principal vulnerability from coastal erosion.

Dean, R., 2013, Land at Berry Cliff Camp, Branscombe, Devon: An Archaeological Gradiometer Survey (Report - Geophysical Survey). SDV360952.

This survey was part of a programme of archaeological investigations at Berry Cliff Camp commissioned as part of the Unlocking Our Coastal Heritage project (Horner, 2010). The site comprises Berry Cliff Camp, an Iron Age hillfort, and an adjoining prehistoric field system which occupy a plateau of land at Littlecombe Hill, Branscombe; both are Scheduled Monuments. This section of East Devon Coast is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, which is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The South West Coast Path (SWCP) passes through the monument and field system running parallel with the cliff edge.

The magnetic contrast across the survey areas was sufficient to be able to differentiate between anomalies representing possible archaeological features and background magnetic responses. A total of 39 magnetic anomaly groups were identified as pertaining to potential archaeology.

Area 1
Anomaly groups 2, 5, 6 12, 15 and 17 relate to the Iron Age and later earthworks that form a field system which was mapped by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) in 1989 (figure 4 shows the Ordnance Survey summary mapping of these monuments). Anomaly group 18 is likely to be an extension of an existing field boundary.

Groups 1 and 16 are linear patterns of anomalies that typically relate to archaeological features such as field boundaries and other enclosures. They may relate to archaeological features associated with the prehistoric field system.

Group 20 may also be related to the field system but it may be a fortuitous alignment of naturally occurring deposits.

Groups 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 19 are spatially associated with mapped earthworks thought to be field clearance cairns and possibly some barrows as discussed.

Area 2 to 4
Group 26 directly correspond to the traces of a redundant post medieval field boundary
and former public footpath surviving as a low earthwork in area 3. Group 39 corresponds to a similar boundary in area 4. Both were recorded on the 1840 tithe map and on Ordnance Survey maps to 1959 but not beyond. In both cases, the anomalies point to a stony structure, possibly a revetment wall or area cleared of surface soil, flanking both sides of a central linear earthen bank.

Data with no previous provenance
Area 1
Anomaly group 14 has very similar characteristics to the anomaly groups associated with cairns and may represent such a monument.

Groups 1 and 16 are linear patterns of anomalies that typically relate to archaeological features such as field boundaries and other enclosures. They may relate to archaeological features associated with the prehistoric field system discussed above.

Group 20 may also be related to the field system but it may be a fortuitous alignment of naturally occurring deposits.

Areas 2 to 4 (figure 3)
No anomalies pertaining to possible archaeology were recorded in area 2. All the remaining anomaly groups in areas 3 and 4 are linear patterns of anomalies that typically relate to archaeological features such as field boundaries and other enclosures.

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R., 2013-2014, South Devon Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV351146.

The earthwork banks of a field system of possible prehistoric date are visible on digital images derived from aerial photographs taken in 2001 and Lidar data captured in 2006 to 2007, overlooking the coastal cliffs at Littlecombe Shoot, Branscombe. A minimum of four earthwork mounds are visible amongst the field boundaries. Further mounds might be subsumed within the linear boundary banks. The relationship between the more substantial, probably prehistoric boundary banks and the more regular but slighter, probably post-medieval boundary banks is unclear. The north-east to south-west orientated bank depicted on the current Ordnance Survey digital Mastermap base mapping at circa SY183258828, which is probably post-medieval in date, appears to cut or slight two or three east to west orientated earlier banks. Conversely, a series of similarly regular boundary banks to the east of the possibly prehistoric field pattern, which appear to define roughly rectangular enclosures that also fall within the wider post-medieval enclosure pattern, can be interpreted as respecting two possible large clearance cairns and former boundaries at circa SY18468828. The easternmost, probably post-medieval boundaries are partly depicted on the Ordnance Survey digital Mastermap base mapping but have been transcribed due to their relationship with the older relict field boundaries and Berry Camp hillfort to the east.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV342694	Report - non-specific: English Heritage. 2009. Heritage at Risk Register 2009: South West. English Heritage Report. A4 Bound +Digital. 96.
SDV342856	Report - Survey: Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. 1989. Berry Cliff Camp, Branscombe. Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England Field/Recording In. A4 Unbound.
SDV342858	Schedule Document: Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 2002. Prehistoric Field System On The Cliffs Above Littlecombe Shoot. The Schedule of Monuments. A4 Stapled.
SDV342860	Schedule Document: Department of Environment. 1971. Round Barrows and Enclosure on Cliff Above Littlecombe Shoot. The Schedule of Monuments. Foolscap.
SDV342861	National Monuments Record Database: National Monuments Record. 2009. 448925. National Monuments Record Index. Website.
SDV344777	Report - non-specific: English Heritage. 2010. Heritage at Risk Register 2010: South West. English Heritage Report. Digital. 87.
SDV349376	Aerial Photograph: Next Perspectives. 2001. Next Perspectives PGA Tile Ref:. Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs. Digital. Next Perspectives PGA Imagery SY1888 15-AUG-2001.
SDV351146	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R.. 2013-2014. South Devon Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Project. AC Archaeology Report. Digital.
	Linked documents:1
SDV351568	Archive - Survey: Exeter Archaeology. 2003-2004. East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Archaeological Survey. East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Archaeological Survey. Digital + Mixed Archive Material. 157.
SDV355280	Report - non-specific: English Heritage. 2011. Heritage at Risk Register 2011: South West. english Heritage. Digital. 89.
SDV356180	Cartographic: Environment Agency. 2006-2007. LiDAR data JPEG image (1 metre resolution). Environment Agency LiDAR data. Digital. LIDAR SY 1888 Environment Agency D0075801 Nov 2006 - Mar 2007.
SDV356237	Cartographic: Environment Agency. 1998-2011. Lidar data JPEG SY18NE DTM. Environment Agency LiDAR data. Digital. LIDAR SY18NE DSM Environment Agency 1998-2011.
SDV360952	Report - Geophysical Survey: Dean, R.. 2013. Land at Berry Cliff Camp, Branscombe, Devon: An Archaeological Gradiometer Survey. Substrata. 130110. Digital.

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6127 - Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme (NMP) for South-West England - South Coast Devon (Ref: ACD618)
• EDV8068 - Gradiometer Survey: Land at Berry Cliff Camp, Branscombe (Ref: 130110)

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