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Summary

Vegetation marks visible on ap consist principally of field banks similar to existing fields to the south. On the northern slopes at sx550666 strip lynchets extend eastwards. Area known as lynch common.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Earthwork remains of a field system on Lynch Common thought to be medieval or post-medieval in date, as well as Bronze Age hut circle and enclosure remains

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56NE126
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 438858
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/209

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FIELD SYSTEM (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/106G/UK/1190, 3263 (Aerial Photograph). SDV340833.

Aph=raVegetation marks visible on aerial photograph consist principally of field banks similar to existing fields to the south. On the northern slopes at sx550666 strip lynchets extend eastwards. Area known as Lynch Common.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 4290-1 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Cropmarks of a field system at SX 553664 on Lynch Common consist principally of field banks similar to existing fields to the
south. On the northern slopes at SX 550666 strip lynchets extend
eastwards.

Haynes, R. G., 1978, Typescript notes and plans (Un-published). SDV285917.

LYNCH COMMON. The great flat area of Lynch Common has been divided by earth banks into nine fields of varying size, four of which bear plough marks. Except in two instances the land has been ploughed roughly north and south. A portion of one field bears furrows five yards apart. The remaining fields appear to have been cultivated in strips varying from sixteen to thirty-three yards in width. Field boundaries are earth bank and ditch, some substantial, but mostly trivial and none capable of confining animals, the fields are now reaped for fern, used for animal bedding.
They are bounded on the west by the outer boundary hedge of Lovaton and on the east by a large earth bank and ditch, which follows exactly the ruined modern wall from Ringmoor Cott to Brisworthy Plantation. The Meavy-Brisworthy road, probably of ancient origin, follows the Lovaton hedge and crosses at least one of the fields.
There is no trace of a dwelling house. The fields appear to have been approached by a sunken lane from Lovaton stroll and crossing the modern road to reach the centre of the field area. This cultivated land may have been common land and enclosed and used by the settlement of Lovaton and abandoned at an early date.
The drop into Smallacombe is too steep for cultivation, but two or three enclosure walls cross the road and continue down the slope for a short distance. A number of footpaths and drainage ditches cross the slope. The ancient track leading from Meavy Ford and Marchants Cross (SX 56 NW 19) passes up the foot of the valley, in places a deep, sunken lane barely wide enough for a pack horse and now overgrown and impassable. At these points a new track has been trodden.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX56NE126 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV230976.

(15/09/1980) The field system, as described above, extends over 60 hectares and is visible mostly as sub-rectangular fields averaging 140m. by 120m. with banks and ditches 2.8m. wide and 0.8m. high, and 2.3m. wide and 0.4m. deep respectively. Their construction and condition suggest they are of late Medieval or more probably post-Medieval date.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

Recorded. Includes SX56NE/389, SX56NE/388, SX56NE/387, SX56NE/391.

Gerrard, S., 1993-2010, Monument Protection Programme Alternative Action Report (Report - non-specific). SDV145710.

(2002) The absence of a surviving broadly contemporary settlement in an area where field systems are often associated with field systems means that this field system is not considered of national importance, and therefore is not recommended for scheduling.

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

(18/03/2005) This field system remains in a good and a stable condition and is as described by Authorities 2 and 3. When combined with the adjoining remains on Ringmoor Down, in Sheepstor Parish, these form perhaps the best preserved and most extensive surviving medieval field system on the western edge of Dartmoor. Most of the former fields display evidence of ridge and furrow.

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

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