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Summary

Bronze Age coaxial field system.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021253: Coaxial field systems and associated later remains between Deckler's Cliff and Gammon Head
• Protected Wreck 1000050: MOOR SAND

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 444270
• Old SAM Ref: 33774

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FIELD SYSTEM (Early Bronze Age to XXI - 2200 BC to 2009 AD (Between))

Full description

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2004, Coaxial Field Systems and Associated Later Remains between Deckler's Cliff and Gammon Head (Schedule Document). SDV340277.

This monument includes the surviving portions of a once larger prehistoric field system, two coaxial parts of which contain scattered hut circles and three hut groups. It also includes an enclosed hut settlement, two field clearance cairns and, of medieval and post-medieval date, an animal pound and shepherds' hut, an isolated building, two hollow ways and two 19th century iron mines with miners' cottages, complex surface workings, a tramway system and port facility. The monument is located in heathland and farmland on a rocky coastline with spectacular views to the south and west.
The northern area of coaxial field system includes a large number of fields laid out on a north to south axis and is the best preserved part of a wider system which is 1.8 kilometres m east-west and 1.2 kilometres north-south. It lies in a valley with steeply sloping sides and occasional rock outcrops, especially along its southern edge, where a steep coastal slope falls abruptly to the sea which borders the south side of the monument. Some of the coaxial boundaries continue down this slope. Many of the fields were ploughed during the medieval period, forming lynchets on the valley side. Their boundaries vary between 3.0 and 5.0 metres wide and are from 1.0 to 2.5 metres high,
containing occasional vertical earthfast stone slabs, set close together. These slabs are about 0.5 metres wide, 0.2 metres thick and stand up to 1.0 metre high. Two groups of hut circles are located within this area of field system, in sheltered hollows below rock outcrops. The huts are between 8.0 metres and 11 metres in diameter, with walls up to 2.0 metres wide and 1.0 metre high, grouped together with their walls touching. Elsewhere in the system are isolated huts of similar size.
The southern area of coaxial field system comprises the relict western edge of a once larger system which is 2.2 kilometres east-west by 0.8 kilometres north-south. Its terminal bank, which contains many orthostats, runs along a ridge from east to west and meets the sea at Hamstone Cove. Its westernmost coaxial boundary runs to the south along a rocky ridge, terminating at Gammon Head and a series of irregular banks runs off it down the coastal slope to the west. At the foot of this slope near Bull Rock are several sub-rectangular and curved earthwork hut platforms, an average of 22 metres long and 12 metres wide, with enclosing banks 3.0 to 4.o metres wide and up to 1.5 metres high. Some 150 metres north of these are two circular hut platforms 14 metres and 8.o metres in diameter, on a south facing slope in the corner of a relict field.
Between these two areas of coaxial field system is an irregular field system of earth banks which run from the sea up to the top of the coastal slope between Venerick's Cove and Hamstone Cove. These are between 40 metres and 90 metres apart and measure from 2.0 metres to 3.5 metres wide and up to 1.5 metres high. Within this field system is a small ovoid enclosure on the south side of the hilltop, north of Venerick's Cove. It survives as a cropmark and partly as an earthwork on the coastal slope and measures 40 metres wide by 140 metres long, surrounded by a bank 10 metres wide and up to 1.0 metres high on its south side. It contains at least four hut circles between 12 metres and 16 metres in diameter, appearing as cropmarks, with a fifth surviving as a platform in the coastal slope below. Fields to the north bear the name Woodberry. Evidence for the later use of this area includes several features of medieval, post-medieval and modern date. A medieval hollow way runs along the south side of the valley bottom, north of Deckler's Cliff and is 5 metres wide by up to 2.0 metres deep, with a high hedge forming its north side. Where this hollow way meets the sea at Seacombe Sand, it divides into two and becomes 3.0 to 5.0 metres wide and up to 4.0 metres deep as it descends the cliff to the beach. A similar hollow way descends to Hamstone Cove, near which is a rectangular post-medieval building which measures 17 metres by 7.0 metres with rubble walls 1.0 metres wide, terraced into the hillside. Above Venerick's Cove is a sub-rectangular animal pound with banks of earth and stone which measures 30 metres by 25 metres and has a small shepherds' hut in its south western corner. A 19th century stone wall divides the pound. This is broadly contemporary with the several small medieval lynchets which survive in the field system to the east.
The coaxial field systems between Deckler's Cliff and Gammon Head are important survivals in an area where such systems have not previously been identified. The fields, their boundary banks, associated hut circles and later features will contain archaeological and environmental information relating to their construction and use, and the contemporary landscape. Other details: Part of 33774.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6587 - Archaeological Assessment of Land between Bolt Heat and Bolt Tail

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