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Deserted medieval settlement at Challacombe
Devon
Challacombe deserted medieval settlement sits on the high moor as a scattered collection of house platforms, enclosures and field boundaries, the traces of a community that farmed this exposed landscape in the medieval period. The site tells of a time when Dartmoor's margins supported more intensive settlement than they do today, before climate change and economic shifts drove people away.
Walking across the site, you can make out the low banks and hollows where homesteads once stood, and the patterns of walls and banks that shaped the land. The moorland has reclaimed much, but the archaeological evidence remains clear enough to read. Like other deserted settlements on and around Dartmoor, Challacombe is a reminder of the moor's changing human story and the enduring mark communities leave on the landscape.
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