THE BLACKDOWN HILLS AONB AND EAST DEVON RIVER CATCHMENTS NATIONAL MAPPING PROGRAMME SURVEY HISTORIC ENGLAND PROJECT NUMBER 7209 PHASE 1 INTERIM REPORT ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Prepared by: Cain Hegarty, Stephanie Knight and Richard Sims Document No: ACD1228/2/1 Date: April 2017 AC archaeology The Blackdown Hills AONB and East Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Survey Historic England Project No. 7209 Phase 1 Interim Report Prepared by Cain Hegarty, Stephanie Knight and Richard Sims Document Control Grid The Blackdown Hills AONB and East Devon River Catchments Title: National Mapping Programme Phase 1 Interim Report Project Number: 7209 Author(s): Cain Hegarty, Stephanie Knight and Richard Sims Origination Date: February 2017 Reviser(s): Date of last revision: Version: 1.0 Status: Draft Summary of Changes: Circulation: PAO Required Action: File Name/Location: P:\Culture\Archaeology\GEN\National Mapping Programme\Blackdown Hills AONB\5. Reports\Interim report Approval: Blackdown Hills AONB and East Devon River Catchments NMP Survey: Phase 1 Doc.ACD1228/2/1 ii The Blackdown Hills AONB and East Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Survey A National Mapping Programme Report Contents Summary, Background & Methodology .......................................................... 7 1.1 Summary ............................................................................................... 7 1.2 Background to the Project ...................................................................... 7 1.3 NMP Methodology ................................................................................. 8 Progress and Constraints on the Survey ..................................................... 10 2.1 Progress .............................................................................................. 10 2.2 Constraints on the Survey .................................................................... 10 Overview of the Survey Results ................................................................... 10 3.1 Interim Analysis/Interpretation of Results ............................................. 10 3.2 Emerging Themes ............................................................................... 11 Illustrated Selected Highlights ..................................................................... 15 4.1 Summary ............................................................................................. 15 4.2 Industrial .............................................................................................. 15 4.3 Agriculture ........................................................................................... 26 4.4 Military Defence and Fortification ......................................................... 33 4.5 Settlement ........................................................................................... 38 4.6 Religious, Ritual and Funerary ............................................................. 42 Heritage Protection; Interim Statement ........................................................ 46 Interim Conclusions ..................................................................................... 46 Bibliography and Sources Consulted ........................................................... 47 APPENDIX A: Sites Suggested for Heritage Protection Consideration ............... 49 APPENDIX B: Sites Suggested for Further Work ............................................... 51 Blackdown Hills AONB and East Devon River Catchments NMP Survey: Phase 1 Doc.ACD1228/2/1 iii Figures Figure 1: The Blackdown Hills AONB and East Devon River Catchments Phase 1 survey area. .................................................................................................................................... 7 Figure 2: Survey area in relation to previous National Mapping Programme Surveys. ...... 9 Figure 3: Demonstrating the subtlety of extractive pit earthworks visible on lidar data. ... 21 Figure 4: All extractive pits and associated industrial sites recorded on the DCC HER in the Phase 1 Survey Area. ................................................................................................ 22 Figure 5: An extractive pit west of Dalwood Village .......................................................... 24 Figure 6: An extractive pit west of Rose Farm, Stockland parish ..................................... 24 Figure 7: Former extractive pits north of Wilmington, Widworthy parish .......................... 25 Figure 8: Distribution map of orchard banks recorded as earthworks .............................. 27 Figure 9: Tree planting banks of a Devonian orchard overlying a former extractive pit, east of Shore Bottom, Stockland parish. .......................................................................... 29 Figure 10: Woodland within pits north of Little Snodwell Farm, Stockwell parish. ........... 30 Figure 11: Coppice and orchards within pits at Broadleaze Copse, Payhembury Parish 30 Figure 12: Orchard and plantation established in former pits. .......................................... 31 Figure 13: ‘Weeks’s Pit’ listed as a Plantation on the Tithe Apportionment for Broadhembury. ................................................................................................................. 31 Figure 14: An orchard on the Tithe map for Awliscombe and an orchard and ponds on the OS First Edition map, established in a pit visible on lidar derived images. ................ 32 Figure 15: Variable depiction of pits on historic maps, to the north-east of Combehayes Farm, Awliscombe parish.................................................................................................. 32 Figure 16: Distribution and broad date of all military or defensive monuments recorded or amended by Phase 1 of the survey .................................................................................. 33 Figure 17: Taunton Stop Line pillbox and railway line obstructions of Second World War date, Axminster ................................................................................................................. 34 Figure 18: A possible small fort or camp of Roman date .................................................. 36 Figure 19: The distribution of Roman monuments within the Phase 1 survey area ......... 37 Figure 20: The distribution of deserted or shrunken settlements in Phase 1. .................. 39 Figure 21: Rectilinear enclosures south of Bowerhayes Farm, Dunkeswell, possible site of a Grange of Dunkeswell Abbey. ................................................................................... 40 Figure 22: Earthwork platforms or terraces immediately south of Dunkeswell Abbey. .... 41 Figure 23: Distribution plot of monuments identified by the survey and interpreted as being of religious, ritual or funerary character. ................................................................. 42 Figure 24: Distribution plot of monuments interpreted as being of religious, ritual or funerary character, ............................................................................................................ 43 Figure 25: The plan of the east range of monastic buildings at Dunkeswell Abbey revealed by cropmarks...................................................................................................... 43 Figure 26: Cropmarks of a possible levelled long barrow or mortuary enclosure of Neolithic date near Luton village, Broadhembury ............................................................. 44 Figure 27: A curvilinear ditch within the circuit of the causewayed enclosure at Hembury Hillfort ................................................................................................................................ 45 Blackdown Hills AONB and East Devon River Catchments NMP Survey: Phase 1 Doc.ACD1228/2/1 iv Charts Chart 1: Monuments categorised by top term. A number of duplicate records will have been automatically generated during export from the HER, where a monument has more than one possible top term. The unassigned category comprises mainly non- archaeological features. .................................................................................................... 11 Chart 2: Monuments by period; the ‘from’ date has been used, so later periods may be under-represented, for instance an enclosure dated from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age will be categorised here as Bronze Age. Figures rounded to the nearest full number. .... 13 Chart 2: The proportion of named extractive pits recorded on the DCC HER within the Phase 1 survey area. ........................................................................................................ 17 Chart 4: The proportion of previously unrecorded extractive pits identified by the Phase 1 survey compared to functionally identified pits. ................................................................ 20 Chart 5: Types and proportions of Second World War features recorded and amended by Phase 1 of the survey. ...................................................................................................... 35 Tables Table 1: Most frequently recorded monument types and evidence. ‘Other’ combines the remainder of the monument types recorded during the project (numbering 316). ........... 12 Table 2: Broad categories of evidence type recorded. Evidence types not used during the survey, but already attached to pre-existing records amended by the survey, are combined