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Summary

A series of shallow ditches on the lower eastern slopes of Legistor Warren. These have been previously claimed to be enclosure boundaries which partitioned off parts of the rabbit warren, the feature comprises mainly of shallow ditches and would not therefore have formed an effective barrier unless a fence was added. Drainage was incorporated into other Dartmoor warrens at Huntingdon and Beardown, so this would seem the most likely explanation for these features to prevent the buries being deluged during extreme downpours.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019876: Prehistoric settlement, three round cairns and a post-medieval rabbit warren at Legis Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56NE115
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/239/7
• Old SAM Ref: 22289
• Pastscape: 438828

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSURE (Constructed, XV to Post Medieval - 1401 AD (Between) to 1750 AD (Between))

Full description

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 130887 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(22/02/1993) This enclosure contains a pillow mound and forms part of Legis Tor Warren. It includes a 130m long by 80m wide area defined on the north, west and east by a 1.6m wide and 0.5m high bank with an external ditch measuring 1.2m wide and 0.6m deep. This enclosure boundary may have been intended to prevent rabbits moving into other areas of the warren and designed to prevent vermin gaining access. For these reasons this enclosure may have been a breeding area in which rabbits were raised for the purpose of stocking the outlying mounds.
The pillow mound survives as a flat-topped, oblong-shaped mound of soil and stone surrounded on three sides by the ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the mound. The mound lies with its long axis across the hillslope, measures 16.4m long, 6.5m wide, 1.2m high surrounded by a 2.4m wide and 0.7m deep ditch. A 4m long shallow gully leads south from the mound and may have been constructed for drainage and as an access route.

Environment Agency WMS, 1998-2016, LiDAR DTM data JPEG image (1m resolution) (Cartographic). SDV360208.

Probert, S., 2005, Ringmoor Training Area: Monument Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV363484.

Probert, S. A. J., 2010, A Condition Survey of the Archaeological Sites of Ringmoor, Dartmoor Training Area (Report - Survey). SDV360517.

Newman, P., 2018, Archaeological Sites within Ringmoor Training Area, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: A condition survey on behalf of Defence Infrastructure Organisation (Report - Survey). SDV361636.

Partial enclosure depicted on the GIS survey layer.

Newman, P., 2022, Ringmoor Down Premier Archaeological Landscape Dartmoor National Park, Devon. A new survey, Table 1 (Report - Survey). SDV365490.

Ditches and banks within Legistor Warren. SX 57211 65280. A series of shallow ditches on the lower eastern slopes of Legistor Warren. These have been previously claimed to be enclosure boundaries which partitioned off parts of the rabbit warren, the feature comprises mainly of shallow ditches and would not therefore have formed an effective barrier unless a fence was added. Drainage was incorporated into other Dartmoor warrens at Huntingdon and Beardown, so this would seem the most likely explanation for these features to prevent the buries being deluged during extreme downpours.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7443 - Condition survey of archaeological sites in Ringmoor Training Area
• EDV7569 - Condition survey of Ringmoor Down training area
• EDV8227 - Ringmoor Training Area: Monument Baseline Condition Survey
• EDV8917 - Survey of the archaeological features on Ringmoor Down

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.