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Summary

Five parallel curvilinear ditches are visible as dark cropmarks on aerial photographs between 1984 and 2007. One was the ditch of a field boundary extant in 1946, and the others are interpreted as the remains of medieval strip field boundaries, which fell out of use before 1840. It is very likely that below-ground remains survive.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FIELD BOUNDARY (Early Medieval to XIX - 1066 AD to 1840 AD (Between))

Full description

T Woodmas & Co, Surveyors., 1840, Map of the Parish of Clovelly, Devon (Cartographic). SDV349395.

One curvilinear field boundary is depicted in this location.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/106G/UK/1631, NMR RAF/106G/UK/1631 3063-3064 08-JUL-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV349023.

Curvilinear parallel cultivation marks are visible.

Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photography, 1970, CUCAP BCV, CUCAP BCV29 03-JUL-1970 (Aerial Photograph). SDV349635.

A curvilinear bank is visible as an earthwork.

Griffith, F. M., 1984, DAP/BL, DCC DAP/BL 10A 07-JUL-1984 (Aerial Photograph). SDV349381.

Five parallel curvilinear ditches are visible as cropmarks. Map object partly based on this source.

Next Perspectives, 2007, Next Perspectives PGA Tile Ref:, Next Perspectives PGA Tile Ref: SS3123 22-AUG-2007 (Aerial Photograph). SDV349178.

Five parallel curvilinear ditches are visible as dark cropmarks. Map object partly based on this source.

Collings, A. G. + Manning, P. T. + Valentin, J., 2007, The North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Phase 1. Archaeological Survey. Summary Report (Report - Assessment). SDV339712.

Evidence of former boundaries on 1946 aerial photography indicate that current single field to east of Dyke Farm was formerly divided into six fields. Other details: 2891.

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S., 2011 - 2012, North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV349018.

Five parallel curvilinear ditches, aligned approximately north to south, are visible as dark cropmarks on aerial photographs between 1984 and 2007, and one is visible as an earthwork bank on aerial photographs dating to 1970. The ditches are less than two metres in width and are spaced at internals of between 19 and 47 metres apart. The central ditch is on the line of a field boundary that is depicted on the Tithe map of 1840, and was extant in 1946; this has since been removed and the remains of the bank are also visible, as a pale curvilinear cropmark, on later aerial photographs. The four other ditches are interpreted as the remains of former field boundaries between strip fields of medieval date, which were removed sometime before the mid nineteenth century. Cultivation marks from modern agricultural activities, perhaps manure spreading, are visible on the exact alignment of some of the ditches on 1940s aerial photographs, suggesting that at this time slight earthworks may have survived and were respected, perhaps unintentionally, by farmers undertaking agricultural work by machine. Although any earthworks may have been levelled, it is highly probable that below-ground remains survive.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV339712	Report - Assessment: Collings, A. G. + Manning, P. T. + Valentin, J.. 2007. The North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Phase 1. Archaeological Survey. Summary Report. Exeter Archaeology Report. 06.22 (rev.1). A4 Stapled + Digital.
SDV349018	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S.. 2011 - 2012. North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty National Mapping Programme Project. AC Archaeology Report. ACD383/2/1. Digital.
	Linked documents:1
SDV349023	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/106G/UK/1631. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). NMR RAF/106G/UK/1631 3063-3064 08-JUL-1946.
SDV349178	Aerial Photograph: Next Perspectives. 2007. Next Perspectives PGA Tile Ref:. Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs. Digital. Next Perspectives PGA Tile Ref: SS3123 22-AUG-2007.
SDV349381	Aerial Photograph: Griffith, F. M.. 1984. DAP/BL. Devon Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). DCC DAP/BL 10A 07-JUL-1984.
SDV349395	Cartographic: T Woodmas & Co, Surveyors.. 1840. Map of the Parish of Clovelly, Devon. Tithe Map. Digital.
SDV349635	Aerial Photograph: Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photography. 1970. CUCAP BCV. Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photography. Photograph (Paper). CUCAP BCV29 03-JUL-1970.

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6132 - North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty NMP Project

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