Blackaton deserted medieval settlement

Historic England's scheduling record (list entry 1021396) describes a deserted medieval settlement on the lower west-facing slope of Blackaton Down. The scheduling falls into two areas. It has at least eleven buildings, three set in or beside small enclosures called crofts. They survive as rectangular earthworks with the odd stone showing, mostly across the contour. At least six have opposed entrances in their long walls and must be longhouses, and the smaller ones may be barns. A few lynchets in the southern part are what remains of a once larger strip field system. It lies in the parish of Widecombe in the Moor, about 2.4 km south of Hameldown Tor and 1.3 km south of Challacombe.

Modern building work nearby has turned up a lot of 13th-century pottery. Documents confirm a settlement here between the 13th and 18th centuries. The earliest mention is in 1229, when it was a manor of the Pipards. In the 16th century the manor was bought by the Southcott family, and 18th-century documents mention a chapel with courtelage, which may be the small building in a square enclosure at SX 69807828. Modern fences and track surfaces are excluded, though the ground beneath them is included.

Historic England's own survey of Blackaton in 2006 recorded a possible 17 buildings and platforms, some forming separate groups or farmsteads, and the earthworks suggest the settlement grew over time, perhaps from a single holding to a substantial settlement, and then shrank until it was left. Strip lynchets of the same age lie on the lower slopes of Blackaton Down, beyond which are larger irregular fields of medieval and post-medieval date.

Sources: Historic England list entry 1021396, which cites the Devon County Sites and Monuments Register (SX67NE48, 1987), and a note from Historic England Research (August 2017) on the 2006 survey, whose report is at research.historicengland.org.uk (report 14357).

• Period: Medieval
• Status: Scheduled monument (Historic England list entry 1021396)
• Grid reference: SX 6975 7822 (approximate, from the listing's coordinates)