Roughtor parallel reave

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1010697
Date first listed:: 25-Feb-1992

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1010697
Date first listed:: 25-Feb-1992

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Devon
District:: West Devon (District Authority)
Parish:: Sheepstor
National Park:: DARTMOOR
National Grid Reference:: SX 58005 68081

Reasons for Designation

Dartmoor is the largest expanse of open moorland in southern Britain and, because of exceptional conditions of preservation, it is also one of the most complete examples of an upland relict landscape in the whole country. The great wealth and diversity of archaeological remains provides direct evidence for human exploitation of the Moor from the early prehistoric period onwards. The well-preserved and often visible relationship between settlement sites, major land boundaries, trackways, ceremonial and funerary monuments as well as later industrial remains, gives significant insights into successive changes in the pattern of land use through time.

Elaborate complexes of fields and field boundaries are some of the major features of the Dartmoor landscape. The reaves are part of an extensive system of prehistoric land division introduced during the Bronze Age, around 1700BC. They consist of simple linear stone banks used to mark out discrete territories, some of which are tens of kilometres in extent. The systems are defined by parallel, contour and watershed reaves, dividing the lower land from the grazing zones of the higher moor and defining the watersheds of adjacent river systems. Occupation sites and funerary or ceremonial monuments are often incorporated in, or associated with, reave complexes. Their longevity and their relationship with other monument types provides important information on the diversity of social organisation, land divisions and farming practices amongst prehistoric communities. They show considerable longevity as a monument type, sometimes surviving as fossilised examples in medieval field plans. They are an important element in the existing landscape and, as such, a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

Roughtor reave is part of the complex reave system on south-west Dartmoor and is connected to the major watershed reave on Eylesbarrow.

Details

Roughtor parallel reave runs for some 700m across and down the slope between Eylesbarrow watershed reave and Roughtor Plantation. It consists of a bank 4m in width and 1m in height with traces of orthostatic facing in places and a probably later ditch on its east side. The southern end of Roughtor reave abuts Eylesbarrow watershed reave, but for purposes of clarity and because they are different reave forms, these two reaves have been defined as separate schedulings.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 10746
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Other
SX56NE-281, REF SX56NE-281, (1990)

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.