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Summary

An area of orchard of probable post-medieval origin was located on the gentle combe slopes to the south of Francis Court Farm. The distinctive remains of earthwork ridges or banks, made to provide increased soil depth and improved drainage for fruit tree planting, were visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s but have probably now been levelled.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ORCHARD (Post Medieval to XIX - 1540 AD to 1880 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1823, RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RP 3170-3171 04-NOV-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV354994.

Linear earthwork banks were visible.

Environment Agency, 1998-2012, LiDAR DSM data JPEG image (1m resolution), LIDAR SX9698 Environment Agency JPEG DSM 19-Dec-2005 (Cartographic). SDV357034.

The earthwork banks were not visible.

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R., 2014-2015, East and Mid Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV356883.

An area of orchard of probable post-medieval origin was located on the gentle combe slopes to the south of Francis Court Farm. The distinctive remains of earthwork ridges or banks, made to provide increased soil depth and improved drainage for fruit tree planting, were visible on aerial photographs of 1946.
The ridges do not correspond directly with a plot depicted as an orchard on the Ordnance Survey first edition 25 inch map, but did abut the southern boundary of a depicted orchard. This boundary was not depicted on the Tithe Map for Broad Clyst and was therefore probably inserted between the 1840s and 1880s, with a second boundary removed to the east. This small scale reorganisation of the field pattern probably therefore reduced the area of an orchard adjacent to Francis Court Farm, leaving the relict earthwork banks outside of the area of the newly enclosed plot.
The ridges were not visible as earthwork banks on digital images derived from lidar data captured in 2005 and have probable been levelled.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV354994	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/CPE/UK/1823. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/CPE/UK/1823 RP 3170-3171 04-NOV-1946. [Mapped feature: #72216 ]
SDV356883	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R.. 2014-2015. East and Mid Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project. AC Archaeology Report. Digital.
	Linked documents:1
SDV357034	Cartographic: Environment Agency. 1998-2012. LiDAR DSM data JPEG image (1m resolution). Environment Agency LiDAR data. Digital. LIDAR SX9698 Environment Agency JPEG DSM 19-Dec-2005.

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6530 - The East and Mid-Devon Rivers Catchment NMP project (Ref: ACD613)

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