| Summary : Features comprising the post-medieval Hentor Warren, recorded by previous authorities, are visible as earthworks 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. The site was mapped from aerial sources in 2023 during the Historic England Dartmoor-Plym project.
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| More information : (SX 591657) Hentor Warren (NAT). (1)
Hentor Warren. Probably the last of the warrens to come into use and certainly the first to be abandoned. Most likely to have always been worked with Willings Walls Warren. (SX 56 NE 135).
The western boundary is assumed to be the Hentor Brook; the northern River Plym; the southern from boundstone HWB3 in a straight line to HWB4 (now disappeared) at the head of Shavercombe; thence in a straight line to Mill Corner Blowing House (SX 56 NE 95) and HWB5 (also disappeared). These are boundaries of Hentor and Willings Walls as given in the lease of 1807 (Morley papers). Approximately 450 acres. Probably abandoned as a separate warren in the 1820's. Operated since then by Ditsworthy Warren (SX 56 NE 111). It is not mentioned in the Tythe Map of the 1840's. (2)
SX 590656. A group of nine pillow mounds counted at Hen Tor. A further one was located at SX 582657. (3)
Pillow mounds visible over a large area. (4)
Hentor Warren (name confirmed) contains at least forty 'buries' or pillow mounds of which about half are close to streams or rivers while the remainder are built on existing banks and walls. They extend between 283.0m OD and 373.0m OD. Their lengths vary from 9.0m to 70.0m with widths of 6.5m and heights of 1.2m. The majority of them are ditched and aligned with the slope.
There are extant remains of the Warrener's, and his labourer's house. (SX 56 NE 128 and 132).
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD. (5)
Hentor Warren includes around 50 pillow mounds and 10 vermin traps, scattered along the hillside between Spanish Lake and Shavercombe Brook. The warren was established by at least 1807, taken over by and worked from Ditsworthy soon after 1815, and continued in use until the 1930s.
Pillow mound at SX 5961 6597 scheduled. (6)
Depicted and described by Robertson. (7)
SX 591657. Hentor Warren. The land occupied by Hentor Farm was reused as a warren from at least the early years of the 19th century by which time the house had been abandoned and the area managed from Ditsworthy, on the opposite bank of the Plym. The warren bounds are described by Brewer (9) and remain marked by four of the five original boundary stones at SX 58436445, SX 58766474, 59566517 and SX 60326523. Each stone is inscribed with the letters H W B and a number, 1-4 respectively. The fifth stone lay near the confluence of Shavercombe Brook and the Plym and is no longer identifiable.
Within the warren are 58 pillow mounds ranging from 12m to 80m long with an average width of 6.5m and a maximum height of 1.2m. The mounds occupy many features of the former farm; field boundaries are re-modelled to form pillow mounds, they overlie areas of ridge and furrow and reuse mounds of tinners waste in the streamworks on the Hentor Brook and the Plym. The common factor is that all the mounds are relatively close to water.
In addition to the mounds are a number of small, connected chevron-shaped ditches around 1.3m wide and 0.3m deep. These are concentrated on the moderate W facing slope at SX 58756602 and they are aligned with their angles on the upslope and the arms pointing downhill. They appear to be attempts to divert surface water away from parts of the slope in order to encourage rabbit burrowing in the relatively dry areas between the arms which are about 25m apart at their lower ends. A large number of similar ditches containing evidence of rabbit burrowing are visible at Trowelsworthy Warren (SX 56 SE 66).
The late establishment of this warren is attested to by the presence of only four vermin traps at SX 58116592, SX 57916578, SX 58496563 and SX 59386580. These exist as a series of V or X-shaped stony banks up to 10m long and 0.4m high which were originally intended to channel predators into a stone-built trap at the apex. All three traps have been incorporated into earlier field walls or banks. No trap stones remain inn situ. These features were made obsolete in the late 18th century with the introduction of gin-traps and the wider use of shotguns. (8)
Features comprising the post-medieval Hentor Warren, recorded by previous authorities, are visible as earthworks 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. The site was mapped from aerial sources in 2023 during the Historic England Dartmoor-Plym project. Only the area within the English Heritage Trust Upper Plym Valley Guardianship Area was mapped in detail for that project. In consequence, only 36 pillow mounds were recorded. Many of these were built by adapting earthwork field boundaries of the medieval/post-medieveal field system NRHE 438855. There are a few drainage ditches formed in a characteristic ‘v’ shape on plan, directing water downslope towards natural streams but far fewer than in the nearby Trowlesworthy Warren (NRHE 439294), possibly because better drainage was available from the banks and interiors of long-cultivated fields than the open moor. The warren boundary is defined by Hentor Brook, the River Plym and Shavercombe Brook. One pillow mound centred at SX 59625 65977 stands on the opposite bank of Shavercombe Brook. (10-12)
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