Dispersed Settlements on the Southern Mendip Escarpment: the Earthwork Evidence

Author(s): Graham Brown

An analytical survey of the southern escarpment of the Mendip Hills identified the earthwork remains of several dispersed farmsteads with associated track-ways and fields. Evidence of industrial activity was also noted. Pottery evidence would suggest that some of the farmsteads date to at least the 12th century although some may have earlier origins, possibly as seasonal settlements. The morphological similarity and regularity of spacing between the farmsteads would suggest that several were part of a planned expansion from the valley settlements. In the centuries following their abandonment, other farmsteads were established on the escarpment, but their fortunes were mixed since some were soon abandoned. In many cases, the remaining farmsteads on this southern hill-slope are the survivors of a periodic colonisation and contraction that has probably occurred over several millenia onto land that has been termed marginal, but which nevertheless was an important resource, not only for pasture, but woodland and occasional arable cultivation, but also mineral extraction.

Report Number:
72/2008
Series:
Research Department Reports
Pages:
34
Keywords:
Medieval Post Medieval Settlement Field System

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