MSO9246 - Medieval field system in Mansley Combe (Monument)

An extensive system of strip lynchets lies on the south and southeast sides of Ham Allotment, on steeply sloping ground in both unimproved and improved fields. The field system is believed to be contemporary with the deserted medieval settlement in Mansley Combe.

On the south facing slopes of Mansley Combe is an extensive area of enclosed land between the unenclosed mass of Dunkery Beacon to the north, and the River Avill to the south. This represents an attempt to enclose and cultivate this land in the medieval and post medieval periods. The upper parts of this enclosed land have not been improved, and in this area was recorded an extensive prehistoric field system (MSO9256). The lowest slopes are enclosed by a substantial ditched boundary and within the area so defined are at least six stony lynchets running along the slope and a number of extant boundaries which incorporate lynchets. These represent a medieval field system and as such are presumably contemporary with the deserted settlement to the southwest (MSO9254). [2] The remains of six or seven curvilinear lynchets are visible on aerial photographs as earthwork banks on the south facing slopes of Mansley Combe, above the River Avill. On the aerial photographs available to the Exmoor National Mapping Programme survey the lynchets appear as fragmentary low and rather spread earthworks, up to 200 metres long and between 3 and 8 metres wide. As described above, an extant boundary roughly central to the earthworks at circa SS 9056 4071 may be part of the system and a survival from the original enclosure. The earthworks may be aligned on Bin Combe and are orientated roughly eastnortheast to westsouthwest, gently climbing Ham Hill as they extend to the southwest. A gulley and short length of bank to the north may be the remains of a field boundary associated with the lynchets field system. [3,4] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [5] An extensive system of strip lynchets lies on the south and SE sides of Ham Allotment, on steeply sloping ground, in both unimproved and improved fields. The extent of the strip lynchets can be seen clearly on the Lidar imagery South of the deserted settlement, on the steep, south facing side of Mansley Combe, the strip lynchets on unimproved ground are substantial features, comprising level terraces up to 2m wide, fronted by stony scarps – lynchets –up to 1.5m high. The strip lynchets may have developed in two phases: at 290342, 140520 a series of straight lynchets running E/W along the slope appear to overlie three lynchets which curve gently upslope. The western end of the strip lynchets is at the western side of the relict field system, where the ground becomes steeper and is poorly drained. The lynchets are cut by a deep erosion gully to the SE of the deserted settlement in Mansley Combe. To the east of this gully, the strip lynchets are obscured by thick bracken and bramble on the lower slopes, but can be seen as a series of gentle scarps, up to 3m wide and 1m high, in improved pasture fields on more gently sloping ground to the NE of the deserted settlement. The sites of several livestock ring feeders can be seen across these fields. The strip lynchets have influenced the layout of these fields which use the lines of the lynchets for their boundaries. The eastern extent of the strip lynchets is the edge of Bincombe, where the lynchets run underneath the post medieval field boundaries to the edge of the steep combe.[6]