MEM22585 - Linear earthwork of unknown date on Wintershead (Monument)

A large scale metric survey of an area of earthworks on Wintershead was undertaken by Hazel Riley in 2012 as part of the Exmoor Mires Project. A linear feature was surveyed which runs west-east across the east side of the study area. It is defined by two rather indistinct but substantial scarps, marking a hollow measuring 95 metres west-east and 17 metres north-south. The scarp on the south side is the better defined and is 1 metre high; the north side is defined by a scarp 0.5 metre high at the east end of the feature. The feature is defined by a single scarp on the south at its west end. The area around the middle of the feature has been disturbed by peat cutting. This feature is difficult to interpret by the earthwork evidence only. It could be an access track to the areas of peat cutting to the north and east on Deer Park, but as it leads into the spring head mire this is unlikely. It is more likely to mark an area of uncut peat between two areas which have been worked over. The feature has also been recognised by the geophysical survey of the area [2-3], which interpreted anomalies over the west end of the feature as probable geological features. Its form may suggest a prehistoric date and consideration should be given to an interpretation as related to the class of monument identified as Neolithic long mortuary or cursus-related enclosures. [1] This feature was excavated by the Mires Project with a narrow evaluation trench (1m x 5.7m) to determine if its origin was anthropogenic and whether this could be related to nearby lithic finds. The ditch presented an asymmetric profile with a significantly steeper northern edge with a maximum depth of about 0.3m. There is no suggetion of anything other than a natural geomorphological origin and it likely originated as a draingage feature, perhaps forming in the early Holocene, following the end of the Ice Age. This trench yielded a single unstratified flint flake within its subsoil layer. [4]