Promoting awareness of the archaeology and history of north Devon
Promoting awareness of the archaeology and history of north Devon
Researching Exmoor’s Past: Your Chance to help Rob Wilson-North (Newsletter No 10 2005)
Do you want to be involved in finding out about Exmoor’s past?
A 2 year project is underway to investigate the settlement of southern Exmoor, and it needs your support. The Settlement of Exmoor is a Victoria County History (VCH) 2 year project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund which, with professional historians at Somerset County Council and Exmoor National Park Authority, is writing the history of 11 parishes in southern Exmoor.We are looking for volunteers to help in the recording and interpreting of settlement and many other aspects of the historic landscape. You are needed to help in the rapid recording of farm buildings in particular, but also to help us complete a series of projects (including map research, excavation, survey and fieldwork) which will illustrate and explain the history and archaeology of this part of Exmoor.
The volunteer projects will formally begin on 1 March 2006 with training sessions and will continue with research and fieldwork through the summer and autumn of 2006. The projects will culminate in a conference in May 2007 at which the projects will be presented. A publication The Settlement of Exmoor will be published by the University of London in 2008.
If you are interested in being involved in the project or would like to talk about it in more detail, please contact Rob Wilson-North at Exmoor National Park Authority: rwilsonnorth@exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk ; 01398 322280 ; 0781 294 5152
Victoria County History: Exmoor Project - Anne Todd (Newsletter No 11 2006)
Project Team:
Dr Robert Dunning, Somerset VCH
Dr Spencer Dimmock, Exmoor EPE Project
Rob Wilson-North, Exmoor NPA
Sue Parkman, Exmoor NPA
Anne Todd, Exmoor EPE Project, Volunteer
Group Leader
Aretha George, Education & Skills Manager,
EPE Project So far…..
In March an inaugural meeting was held at Exmoor House, Dulverton to introduce
those who had shown an interest in the VCH Project. The meeting was extremely
well attended and resulted in nearly 40 people signing up to become volunteers
on the Project.
In April the VCH volunteers attended an induction at Exmoor House with myself and Sally Webber, ENPA Volunteers’ Leader. In early May Rob Wilson-North, Spencer Dimmock and myself discussed various ideas for projects which resulted in the following:
• Farmsteads Project: A team of volunteers were chosen to undertake the recording of various farmsteads within the project area. Training for this took place on Wednesday 17th May at Cloggs Farm and involved the discussion of various types of farm buildings and their uses; measuring, sketching and photographing the buildings including doorways, windows and any interesting features inside and out.
• Green Lanes Project: Another team of volunteers were chosen to undertake the recording of a number of Public Rights of Way. The ENPA Rangers noticed the damage caused by 4x4’s, motor cycles and other off-road vehicles and felt it was essential that the lanes were recorded before too much damage occurred. A training day has been arranged for 7th June with Stephanie Knight, ENPA Countryside Archaeological Adviser.
• Desertion Project: A further team of volunteers were chosen to investigate the desertion of various farmsteads within the project area. This will involve the surveying and recording of landscape features together with research undertaken at the Records Office. A training day will take place on 15th June with Rob Wilson- North and Spencer Dimmock.
Once the training is complete, the volunteers will be placed in groups of 3 or 4 and will carry on themselves the recording and surveying of their various projects. This information will be placed in a database for use in the final publication by Rob Dunning.
England’s Past for Everyone: Victoria County History Exmoor Project Update. Anne Todd (Newsletter No 12 2006)
From March - June 2006 the EPE volunteers were divided into three projects; Historical Farm Buildings, Deserted Farmsteads and a Green Lanes Project. Training sessions were organised to enable the volunteers to produce outline descriptions and surveys, use documentary sources, digital cameras and navigational GPS, and input the survey information into a database.
Further training will involve archaeological field survey and excavation procedures to be carried out sometime in November.
Historic Farm Buildings: Eighteen farmsteads have been surveyed in Somerset ranging in size and condition, but all full of character. The survey has included the measuring of 138 farm buildings, 310 doorways, 188 windows, 46 other types of opening, and 14 associated features including ponds, walls, banks etc.We now have a list of farmsteads in the Devon areas of Molland, Twitchen, East & West Ansty and these surveys will be carried out over the next few months.
Deserted Farmsteads: Two groups of volunteers—one based in the Devon Records Office and one group based in the Somerset Records Office have undertaken the task of mapregression and the use of other documentary resources to ascertain all the deserted farmsteads and cottages in the Devon areas as mentioned above.We have recently started to survey these desertions, so far completing three with plenty more to do. This work will carry on until March 2007.
Green Lanes: Volunteers have surveyed 21 green lanes in the Withypool area, most of which are in extremely good condition and show little signs of damage from recreational vehicles users, horse riders and cyclists. These volunteers have so far recorded the dimensions of a variety of hedge boundaries, different surface conditions and taken photographs of any characteristics.We hope to carry this survey on until March 2007.
To keep the volunteers updated, a meeting has been organised for March 20th at the South Molton Museum, with guest speakers from London, Bristol and Exmoor EPE staff.