Sheeps Tor rabbit warren

Historic England's scheduling record (list entry 1021391) describes a warren on the upper slopes of Sheeps Tor, with at least eleven pillow mounds, three vermin traps and a warreners' house. The scheduling falls into eleven areas. The mounds are rectangular with quarry ditches, 7 to 19 metres long, averaging 11.5, and 1 to 1.6 metres high. It lies in the parish of Sheepstor, about 1.7 km south of Lower Leather Tor and 0.6 km north-east of Sheepstor.

Two of the vermin traps are adjacent V-shaped lengths of drystone wall that together make X-shaped traps with the trapping area between the walls. The third, at SX 56556820, is two lengths of drystone wall, each 3.7 metres long, forming a V. Vermin approaching their quarry tend to seek a route that gives them cover, and a trap funnelled predators along ditches or beside walls to a central point where they could be caught. In the south of the warren, at SX 56426801, an irregular drystone enclosure holds a small rectangular building and at least four internal divisions. It is taken to be the warreners' house, though there is no document to support that, since its character and position strongly suggest it. Its walls stand up to 1.4 metres high and the inside is filled with rubble. No documents about the warren are known, but the vermin traps suggest an early origin. The boundary stone is excluded, though the ground beneath it is included.

Sources: Historic England list entry 1021391, which cites Haynes, 'Vermin Traps and Rabbit Warrens on Dartmoor' (Post-Medieval Archaeology, vol 4, 1970), pages 161 to 162, Haynes's undated manuscript on Sheepstor, and the Devon County Sites and Monuments Register (SX56NE207, 1991).

• Period: Medieval
• Status: Scheduled monument (Historic England list entry 1021391)
• Grid reference: SX 5626 6814 (approximate, from the listing's coordinates)