| Summary : Abandoned medieval and post medieval field systems situated on the upper slopes of Hound Tor overlooking the valley of the Becka Brook. The medieval field system is associated with the deserted medieval village of Houndtor (SX 77 NW 30) and is irregular in shape and appears to be the result of several phases of unorganised expansion and contraction. A number of the irregular shaped fields contain lynchets. After the abandonment of the settlement in the mid 14th century the fields appear to have continued to be cultivated. Certainly in the post medieval period continued interest in the area is witnessed by extensive areas of narrow ridge and furrow. Several groups of clearance cairns may also date to this time. In the area south of Greator Rocks, three shelters built against medieval boundary banks are probably also of post medieval date. Surveyed 1995/1996. The medieval/post-medieval field system is visible as earthworks on 1989 Ordnance Survey vertical aerial photographs, 2015 and 2021 Next Perspectives APGB vertical aerial photography and visualisations of Environment Agency 1m Lidar data flown in 2021. It was mapped from aerial sources in 2023 during the Historic England Dartmoor-Plym project.
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| More information : Medieval field system (1)
Centred SX 746788. Approximately 35ha of abandoned fields containing traces of lynchets, ridge and furrow and clearance cairns on the E half of Houndtor Down. The irregular fields are largely bounded by cornditches between 2.0m and 3.5m wide and around 1.2m high with some unditched internal boundaries. There is no identifiable ridge and furrow associated with this phase, contemporary cultivation being represented by the low lynchets and terraces on the steeper E facing slopes. The field system was reorganised in the post-medieval period when the ridge and furrow and clearance cairns were created. For 1:2500 survey and more detailed description see SX 77 NW 96.
Depicted by Butler map 8 (1-3)
SX 745788. Abandoned medieval and post medieval field systems situated on the upper slopes of Hound Tor overlooking the valley of the Becka Brook. The medieval field system is associated with the deserted medieval village of Houndtor (SX 77 NW 30) and is irregular in shape and appears to be the result of several phases of unorganised expansion and contraction. A number of the irregular shaped fields contain lynchets. After the abandonment of the settlement in the mid 14th century the fields appear to have continued to be cultivated. Certainly in the post medieval period continued interest in the area is witnessed by extensive areas of narrow ridge and furrow. Several groups of clearance cairns may also date to this time. In the area south of Greator Rocks, three shelters built against medieval boundary banks are probably also of post medieval date. Scheduled. (4)
The medieval/post-medieval field system is visible as earthworks on 1989 Ordnance Survey vertical aerial photographs, 2015 and 2021 Next Perspectives APGB vertical aerial photography and visualisations of Environment Agency 1m Lidar data flown in 2021. It was mapped from aerial sources in 2023 during the Historic England Dartmoor-Plym project.The complex system includes medieval ‘cornditch’ type field boundaries comprising a ditch and stone-faced bank, stony banks and elements of probably Bronze Age field boundaries and makes use of some of the reaves on the moor (NRHE 899113). The boundary of the large field centred on SX 74011 79169 to the north-west of Hound Tor is cut by a cornditch that encloses part of the northern side of Hound Tor Down. Short, irregular fragments of earthwork bank centred on SX 74670 78556 at the south-west base of Greator Rocks may be prehistoric in origin, incorporated into a complex area of medieval/post-medieval field parcels that appear to have been enlarged over time from the west. Lynchets and ridge and furrow survive in a number of the field parcels. At its northern extent, the field system extends beyond the modern roadway that runs east-west between Swalleton Gate and Great Houndtor. Substantial lengths of stony wall define its modern south-east and southern sides. Groups of clearance cairns in the northern and southern parts of the field system are now recorded separately (NRHE 1631078). Three small post-medieval shelters are attached to sections of field boundaries in the environs of SX 74670 78528 (NRHE 1044846). Much of the system is scheduled (NHLE 1016255). (5-8)
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