MMO1647 - Post-medieval field system on Oare House Allotment (Monument)

A disused field system is visible as a series of earthworks on aerial photographs at Oare House Allotment, above the settlement at Oare itself, and may represent a failed post-medieval enclosure attempt. The system, centred at approximately SS 8060 4775 covers an area measuring approximately 28 hectares. A large number of banks are visible, forming fields measuring between 20 metres long and 150 metres wide. The banks themselves are irregularly shaped, and often curvilinear, but all form approximately rectangular fields. A number of ditches, possibly for drainage are also visible. The irregular shape of the fields suggests that the enclosures are earlier than the 19th Century, possibly medieval, when more regular enclosures were common. A disused quarry to the east of the field system may have provided material for the construction of the banks. The field system is not shown on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map; however, the area is named "Oare House Allotment" on this map, suggesting that it was connected with Oare House or Oare Manor and was not common land. [1-5] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [6]