MSO8575 - Post-medieval field system on Bye Common (Monument)

Parallel banks forming trackway on Bye Common. Other banks form field boundaries with ploughing running north to south. [1-3] A field system of probable post-medieval date is visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards as earthworks on Bye Common, Winsford parish, centred on circa SS 8818 3588. Along much of its route the longest boundary visible runs roughly west to east along the 345 metre contour. Abutting this boundary, several further field boundaries can be seen on the lower, steeper slopes to the north and northeast. Within the area defined by the long curved boundary, towards the summit of the hill, narrow ridge and furrow can be seen arrayed across the gentler upper slopes, orientated fanlike from northnorthwest and northnortheast. It is probable that these earthworks are evidence of a failed or abandoned enclosure attempt, possibly of 19th Century date. The parallel banks forming a trackway described by [1] could not be seen, and it is likely this interpretation arose from misinterpretation of the pathway as a second earthwork. A quarry has damaged the western end of the long field boundary, at circa SS 8772 3576. [4-8] The area is shown as unenclosed common on Winsford Tithe Map (plots 465, 466, 467) and is described as 'Bye Common' owned and occupied by Commoners in the Tithe Apportionment book. [9] The site remains unenclosed on the late 19th Century Ordnance Survey County Series 1st Edition 25 Inch Map. [10] It seems likley that the field system went out of use before the mid 19th Century. [11] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [12]