MMO1618 - Post-medieval field system south of Holnicote House (Monument)

Ditched field boundaries of probable post-medieval date and the former course of a stream can be seen as cropmarks on aerial photographs, to the south of Holnicote House, Selworthy parish, centred approximately on SS 909 460. The field boundaries are not marked on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map but are clearly aligned on the extant field boundaries and are probably of similar, post-medieval date. The cropmarks are highlighting single and parallel ditches. The single ditches may have been created by the grubbing up of hedgerows, the parallel cropmarks possibly forming over the remains of ditches which formerly flanked the hedgerows. A curvilinear cropmark, centred on circa SS 9102 4593, may mark the former course of a stream which flows to the northwest to feed into Horner Water. It is possible that in the early post-medieval period roughly 200 metres of this stream was diverted a short distance to the south, to its current course, to provide a clearer vista for the inhabitants former Holnicote House. This may have coincided with the removal of the field boundaries described above. It is likely that some of these features were misidentified as the catchwater water meadow system recorded as MSO8082. [1,2] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [3]