| More information : Cropmark of field system at SX 590662. (1)
"The most notable remains are of a considerable field system on the north, where the land begins to slope towards the Plym. Part of these, probably the fields around a longhouse (SX 56 NE 129 ) towards Shavercombe, may be of Medieval origin. The remainder, south and west of this, may have been cultivated much later. There is a local tradition, mentioned by Worth and Crossing, of ploughing these steep fields using two yoke (ten) of oxen during the Napoleonic wars. The field walls vary considerably in size and material and are impossible to date with any exactitude". (2)
A complex field system centred SX 590662 extends over 30 ha on a north slope above the Plym between 305m and 360m OD.
Prehistoric occupation is provided by four enclosures and fifteen huts (See SX 56 NE 97, 98, 99, and 159). Associated with these is a curvilinear bank with a ditch on its upper side. It is about 500m long and roughly follows the contours, the bank 2.0m wide and 0.6m high on the north and the ditch 1.0m wide and 0.4m deep. Two huts abut the bank and interrupt the ditch, ie they appear to post date it. The bank has evidently been utilized as a later boundary and may have been heightened by subsequent clearance.
At SX 59166614 a small enclosure is clearly respected by a prehistoric bank 0.3m high which extends 30.0m to the west, and 30.0m to the east where it is overlaid by a later bank.
The prehistoric area is partly occupied by fields of Medieval or later usage. These extend up and downhill from a linear bank 1 km long. They form in effect a parallel reave system which may be an adaptation of a prehistoric pattern. All are massive banks, up to 4.0m wide and 0.8m high broken occasionally by pillow mounds. It may be fortuitous but the west end of the main base bank is attached to Willings Wall Reave as though it is, or originally was, a branch. The fields to the north exhibit rig and furrow ploughing much obscured by heather. Those to the south may also have rig and furrow but there are fragmentary sub-divisions, very low and discontinuous, which suggest a former prehistoric system.
A complete survey is necessary for full interpretation. Nevertheless there would seem to be three periods of utilization; prehistoric, Medieval, and post Medieval, ie Napoleonic. The longhouse type buildings to the north-east of the area are prehaps Medieval in origin but could have been re-used in the early 19th century. (3)
Depicted and described by Robertson. (4)
Depicted by Butler. (5)
Centred SX 590662. Some 46ha of abandoned field system lie on the realtively dry valley sides above the left bank of the River Plym 400m N of Hentor Farmhouse. At least three phases of use are apparent in this area:
The area is traversed by the Willings Walls Reave (SX 56 NE 123) and traces of prehistoric occupation lie above Shavercombe Brook.The bulk of the remains date from the later medieval or post medieval periods and relate to an intensive phase of arable cultivation. The orientation of the long rectangular fields is possibly conditioned by the course of the reave and several of the prehistoric features have been incorporated into the overall pattern. Robertson suggests that this phase began around the 16th century with the redevelopment of Hentor Farm and may have ended with the abandonment of the farm in the late 18th or very early 19th centuries. The final phase of activity is represented by the pillow mounds which overlie areas of ridge and furrow and sit upon the earlier banks. The suggestion that the area was ploughed in the Napoleonic period appears tenuous.
(6)
The Warren had been established by 1807 and continued until the 1930's. (7)
Source includes a brief accessible overview of a selection of sites in the Upper Plym Valley for visitors. It describes Hentor field system as the most complete example of ridge and furrow on Dartmoor and has a small illustration of the field system. (8)
The medieval/post-medieval field system, recorded by previous authorities, is visible as earthworks and stony structures on Environment Agency 1m Lidar data flown in 2019, 2021 Historic England orthomosaic aerial photography and visualisations of a Digital Elevation Model derived from the orthomosaic. It was mapped from aerial sources in 2023 during the Historic England Dartmoor-Plym project.
In contrast to previous authorities (see above), this field system is not thought to be based on an extension of the Willings Walls Reave (NRHE 438849). The reave continues in an almost northerly direction towards the River Plym, passing to the west of the field system. A medieval field boundary is joined to the west side of the reave at SX 58549 65814 (NRHE 438864). Opposite this junction, a further section of medieval field boundary bank is oriented south-west to north-east away from the reave and into the field system; but is not attached to the reave. After approximately 212m, this latter field boundary turns through a right angle to head towards the south-east. At least five subsequent sections of the field system are developed in a similar way, progressing from west to east to create fields to north or south as indicated by butting joins at field corners. Some field banks in the southern part of the system include rubblestone walls. Earthwork banks to the west side of the field system indicate that on the river bank opposite Ditsworthy it continued towards the River Plym. A possible trackway was formed by parallel field boundaries from SX 58609 65928 to SX 58748 66150.
Almost all the field parcels contain north-west to south-east oriented ridge and furrow. In two fields at the very north-east of the system the ridge and furrow is perpendicular to this dominant orientation. These two fields abut the north-west side of the farmstead NRHE 438867.
The latest part of the field system includes fields to the north-east quarter, defined by slighter earthworks without evidence for ridge and furrow, laid out amongst Bronze Age settlement features and a cairn-field (NRHE 438947, NRHE 438779, NRHE 438776, NRHE 1356297). An earthwork field boundary centred on SX 58944 65815, oriented roughly south-east-south, is aligned with a post-medieval stone-built field boundary to the south-east that is attached to the field north of Hentor Farm (NRHE 438864). The south-east quarter of the field system comprises a large intake defined by earthwork banks with external ditches. The southern extent of this boundary, between SX 59079 65752 and SX 59539 65822, has largely been converted into pillow mounds and drainage ditches for Hentor Warren (NRHE 438876), as have a number of the other field boundaries throughout the field system. The system is cut by the Philips Leat (NRHE 1360628) and an area of Second War World weapons pits (NRHE 1405454). Scheduled monument NHLE 1019082. (10-12)
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