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Summary

Curvilinear enclosure, Virworthy. Visible on Ordnance Survey 1880s-90s First Edition 25 inch map.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CURVILINEAR ENCLOSURE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

Pink, F., 01/2013, Virworthy Farm, Pancrasweek, Devon. Results of an Archaeological Watching Brief. (Report - Watching Brief). SDV350850.

Results of watching brief recovered one sherd of a medieval North Devon gravel tempered ware cooking pot, and a body sherd of post-medieval North Devon pottery. Both were very abraded.

The three recorded boundaries are typical of Devon hedgebanks, no dating evidence was recovered from them, and any associated ditches were not exposed within the monitored excavations. The boundary of the putative enclosure was recorded in breach 2. The bank was slightly wider than the other two but lower and displayed no special characteristics.

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

Curvilinear enclosure visible.

Green, T., 2000, Early Enclosures in a Landscape of Dispersed Settlement: An Examination of Patterns Detected in the Field Boundaries of North Devon and West Somerset, 3, 40 (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV347809.

A close examination of the Ordnance Survey First Edition 25 inch map and the 1840s tithe maps of part of the south-western region of England reveals, within the field-patterns, curving boundaries which appear to form enclosures. These 'curvilinear enclosures' become nuclei in the development of local field-patterns, hence they may be thought to pre-date that which surrounds them. Settlement closely associated with these enclosures may therefore also be suspected to have an early origin.

One of the defining criteria for identifying an enclosure is that there is a track running around at least part of the perimeter. Where peripheral tracks are preserved as roads it appears that even long-distance routeways may diverge to skirt round the enclosures. At Virworthy a long ridgeway coming out of Cornwall is quite dramatically and awkwardly diverted to follow the boundary of this small enclosure, strongly suggesting that the enclosure predates the track. Map object based on this Source.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

Curvilinear enclosure visible. Map object based on this source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6097 - Archaeological Watching Brief, Virworthy Farm, Pancraweek (Ref: ACD538)

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