Details

Roughtor parallel reave runs for some 700m across and down the slope between
Eylesbarrow watershed reave and Roughtor Plantation. It consists of a bank 4m
in width and 1m in height with traces of orthostatic facing in places and a
probably later ditch on its east side.
The southern end of Roughtor reave abuts Eylesbarrow watershed reave, but for
purposes of clarity and because they are different reave forms, these two
reaves have been defined as separate schedulings.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Dartmoor is the largest expanse of open moorland in southern Britain and,
because of exceptional conditions of preservation, it is also one of the most
complete examples of an upland relict landscape in the whole country. The
great wealth and diversity of archaeological remains provides direct evidence
for human exploitation of the Moor from the early prehistoric period onwards.
The well-preserved and often visible relationship between settlement sites,
major land boundaries, trackways, ceremonial and funerary monuments as well as
later industrial remains, gives significant insights into successive changes
in the pattern of land use through time.

Elaborate complexes of fields and field boundaries are some of the major
features of the Dartmoor landscape. The reaves are part of an extensive
system of prehistoric land division introduced during the Bronze Age, around
1700BC. They consist of simple linear stone banks used to mark out discrete
territories, some of which are tens of kilometres in extent. The systems are
defined by parallel, contour and watershed reaves, dividing the lower land
from the grazing zones of the higher moor and defining the watersheds of
adjacent river systems. Occupation sites and funerary or ceremonial
monuments are often incorporated in, or associated with, reave complexes.
Their longevity and their relationship with other monument types provides
important information on the diversity of social organisation, land divisions
and farming practices amongst prehistoric communities. They show considerable
longevity as a monument type, sometimes surviving as fossilised examples in
medieval field plans. They are an important element in the existing landscape
and, as such, a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered
worthy of protection.

Roughtor reave is part of the complex reave system on south-west Dartmoor and
is connected to the major watershed reave on Eylesbarrow.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
SX56NE-281, REF SX56NE-281, (1990)

Source: Historic England