NHER 60743 (Monument record) - Post-medieval field boundaries

April 2014. Geophysical Survey.
A detailed magnetometer survey was carried out over approximately 18.4ha of arable land prior to proposed construction of a reservoir.
Three linear magnetic anomalies of possible archaeological origin were detected during the survey. Two of these were located in the south-eastern corner of the investigated area and formed a right angle with each other. They have been interpreted as former field boundaries of relatively recent date. The third feature was located in the north-west of the site and was slightly curving. It might represent another field boundary, but it links two areas of strong magnetic disturbance interpreted as pits of hollows containing modern debris and therefore may actually be a modern drain or ditch containing a non-ferrous pipe.
All other variations in magnetic responses have been interpreted as the result of modern cultivation, modern land drains, disturbance associated with a modern trackway, and natural geological variation.
See report (S1) for further information.
H. Hamilton (HES), 11 May 2015.

Examination of historic mapping reveals that all three linear features as well as two other linear responses interpreted as modern land drains correspond with field boundaries depicted on the 1826 Tithe map (S2). The south-eastern boundary had disappeared by the time the First Edition Ordnance Survey map was compiled (S3) and the north-western boundary had disappeared by 1946 (S4), but the central two boundaries, which yielded a magnetic repsonse indicative of modern drains, did not go out of use until sometime between 1946 and 1988 (S5).
H. Hamilton (HES), 12 May 2015.