MDE11668 - Romano-British farmstead on parish boundary of Combe Martin and Kentisbury (Monument)

Earthworks centred at SS 6254 4485 represent a former enclosure of unknown date and function. The site lies at 260 metres above Ordnance Datum within two pasture fields, and is bisected by the west to east field bank between the fields. Differing cultivation regimes have affected the preservation of the features, with those to the north being much better preserved, although there have been recent attemps to infill the ditches. The earthworks in the northern field comprise an L-shaped arrangement of three parallel banks and ditches averaging 0.7 metres from bank crest to ditch bottom. They run approximately north-south for 35 metres, before turning 65 degrees and running westwards for 40 metres where they are lost in a natural hollowing caused by spring sapping. The external bank and ditch, however, curve around the northern side of the enclosure and curve gently southwards around the western side where they are lost at a field boundary. The interior of the enclosure is undulating. The earthworks in the southern field comprise the southern half of the enclosure. This is strikingly rectilinear in form, and consists of a spread bank 0.4 metres in height with well-formed rounded corners at the south-west and south-east. It comprises a single bank, and is therefore in stark contrast to the earthworks in the northern field. The earthworks have been smoothed by cultivation, and traces of ?ridging on a north-south alignment are visible in places. The interior is level and featureless. The northern half of the enclosure lies at the extreme east end of Combe Martin parish, the southern half lies in Kentisbury parish. To the immediate north of the enclosure is the southern boundary of Trentishoe parish. It seems that the site predates both the parish boundary and the present configuration of fields. Surveyed at 1:1250 scale. [1] A rapid examination of aerial photography shows the earthworks of this enclosure. [2,3] The enclosure described above is clearly visible on oblique and vertical photographs. Its form and position resemble an Iron Age hillslope enclosure, similar to those seen elsewhere within Exmoor National Park (i.e. Voley Castle and Beacon Castle in Parracombe). However, without further survey a precise date cannot be established. [4,5] The 1979 aerial photograph records three sides of a polygonal enclosure, made up of a single ditch on one side and double ditches on two. On one side there is also an outer bank. The length at the longest side is approximately 50 metres. This is a very curious feature: the 6 inch map (/) doesn't suggest that lie of the land would make drainage ditches probable. It is a polygonal feature in flat lowlying ground those function entirely unknown. The Combe Martin parish boundary appears to make a special diversion to include this feature. [6] A geophysical (resistivity) survey and excavation of two small trenches was undertaken by a community archaeology group in 2012. The geophysical survey covered the southern area of the enclosure and is interpretated as showing a ditch and bank rectilinear enclosure with rounded corners with internal features on an east to west and north to south axis with further external anomalies to the east of the enclosure. The excavaions were in the south eastern corner of the enclosure one in the ditch (1 metre by 1 metre) and one on top of the bank (1 metres by 2.4 metres). The trench in the ditch contained no finds but indicated that the ditch was just over 1 metre in depth and had gradually infilled. The trench on the bank indicated the constuction of the bank to be at just over 1 metre in height above a buried soil. Charcoal and burnt stones were noted and interpreted as a fire pit or fire pit material. Charcoal sent for radiocarbon analysis appear to return a likely 2nd to 3rd century AD date. [7] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [8] In 2024, LiDAR data of the site was surveyed and reviewed in relation to previous investigations. The LiDAR data supported the likely function of the site as a Romano British farmstead, but remarked upon the unusual nature of the stream which bisects the site. The survey provided visualisations of the banks and ditches, particularly in the northern area, in an attempt to unpick possible phases of development. However, the conclusion was that there were few signs of sequencing visible, although there is a suggestion the southern enclosure was originally designed to match the northern, but was altered and extended later. [9]