Local List: Buscombe Beeches, Lanacombe

Authority Exmoor National Park Authority
Date assigned 21 February 2024
Date last amended
Date revoked
This sheepfold is unusual in being rectangular with the banks curving inwards and extending beyond the corners of the enclosed area with beech trees planted on the corners. Each corner has well formed terminals faced with stones. It is very similar to one located in the Borders of Scotland, suggesting that this sheepfold was created by the Scottish shepherds who were brought to Exmoor by Frederic Knight sometime during the 1860s. The enclosure (approximately 102 metres by 66 metres, 3 metres wide and 1.2 metres high) is several times larger than other sheep folds and stells on Exmoor. The entrance lies on the west and is 2 metres wide. The banks have been faced externally with edge set stones. An internal ditch, 1.4 metres wide and 0.3 metres deep, is visible on all sides. Age: distinctive for 19th century Exmoor shepherding Rarity: one of a number of sheepfolds / stells but of distinctive design Distinctive Design: unusual design only one on Exmoor of this type, parallel in Scotland Historical Association: part of Knight estate and connected to Scottish shepherds Evidential Value: not complex but otherwise poorly documented so physical remains are significant. Not completely intact Social Communal Value: landmark, visibility in open moor Collective Value: one of a group of sheep folds or stells developed on the Knight Estate in the former Royal Forest

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Map

Location

Grid reference Centred SS 7819 4253 (126m by 150m)
Map sheet SS74SE
Civil Parish EXMOOR, WEST SOMERSET, SOMERSET

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)