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Wilmersham Common West: a stone row 120m south east of the confluence of Chetsford and Embercombe waters

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1014258
Date first listed:: 28-Mar-1996

User submitted image — Uploaded by Sandy Gerrard This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1014258
Date first listed:: 28-Mar-1996

Location

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

County:: Somerset
District:: Somerset West and Taunton (District Authority)
Parish:: Luccombe
National Park:: EXMOOR
National Grid Reference:: SS 85544 42131

Reasons for Designation

Exmoor is the most easterly of the three main upland areas in the south western peninsula of England. In contrast to the other two areas, Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor, there has been no history of antiquarian research and little excavation of its monuments. However, survey work has confirmed a comparable richness of archaeological remains with evidence of human exploitation and occupation from the Mesolithic period to the present day. The well-preserved and often visible relationships between settlement sites, major land boundaries, trackways and ceremonial and funerary monuments give insight into successive changes in the pattern of land-use through time. Stone alignments or stone rows consist of upright stones set in a single line, or in two or more parallel lines, up to several hundred metres in length. They are often sited close to prehistoric burial monuments, such as small cairns and cists, and to ritual monuments, such as stone circles, and are therefore considered to have had an important ceremonial function. Stone alignments were being constructed and used from the Late Neolithic period to the Middle Bronze Age (c.2500-1000 BC) and provide rare evidence of ceremonial and ritual practices during these periods. The recorded examples on Exmoor form an important subgroup of the total population and are considered to be of national importance.

The Wilmersham Common West stone row survives well and will retain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its use and development. Its importance is enhanced by the proximity of a second stone row lying 200m to the south east.

Details

The monument includes two standing stones, a recumbent stone and the archaeologically sensitive area between and around those features. The site is located on the north west side of Honeycombe Hill 120m south east of the confluence of Chetsford and Embercombe waters. The monument is 26m long and orientated north east to south west. The recumbent stone lies at the north eastern end and is slightly offset from the line towards the north. The standing stone at the south west end is a flat slab, set firm and vertically in the ground, 600mm high, 600mm wide and 150mm thick. The middle stone of the row lies 16.68m to the north east of the first one, is firm and upright in the ground and is 200mm high, 270mm wide and 140mm thick. The recumbent stone lies 9.45m to the north east of the middle stone and is 820mm long, 320mm wide and 320mm thick.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: 25214
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Quinnell, N V, Dunn, C J, Lithic Monuments within the Exmoor National Park: A New Survey, (1992), 55
Other
McDonnell, R R J, (1993)

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.