Details

The monument, which falls into two areas of protection includes a regular
aggregate field system and a double lynchet trackway situated on the steep
south east facing slope of a small dry valley cut into Upper Chalk to the
south of Kingston Deverill.
The field system comprises a series of small rectangular fields covering an
area of 5.5ha. The fields are defined by lynchets up to 1.5m high. The
lynchets on the lower slopes are orientated north-south and the field edges
are orientated approximately east-west. To the north beyond a fenceline the
field system has been reduced by ploughing but is visible in the form of
soilmarks. This section is not however included in the scheduling.
To the north west of the field system a trackway between two lynchets runs for
245m NNW from the field system to a small valley. Including the lynchets the
trackway is 14.7m wide. The trackway is now isolated from the main field
system as a result of afforestation and ploughing.
All fenceposts and cattle troughs are excluded from the scheduling, although
the ground beneath these features is included.

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.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Regular aggregate field systems date from the Bronze Age (2000-700 BC) to the
end of the fifth century AD. They usually cover areas of up to 100ha and
comprise a discrete block of fields orientated in roughly the same direction,
with the field boundaries laid out along two axes set at right angles to one
another. Individual fields generally fall within the 0.1ha-3.2ha range and can
be square, rectangular, long and narrow, triangular or polygonal in shape. The
field boundaries can take various forms (including drystone walls or reaves,
orthostats, earth and rubble banks, pit alignments, ditches, fences and
lynchets) and follow straight or sinuous courses. Component features common to
most systems include entrances and trackways, and the settlements or
farmsteads from which people utilised the fields over the years have been
identified in some cases. These are usually situated close to or within the
field system.
The development of field systems is seen as a response to the competition for
land which began during the later prehistoric period. The majority are thought
to have been used mainly for crop production, evidenced by the common
occurrence of lynchets resulting from frequent ploughing, although rotation
may also have been practised in a mixed farming economy. Regular aggregate
field systems occur widely and have been recorded in south western and south
eastern England, East Anglia, Cheshire, Cumbria, Nottinghamshire, North and
South Yorkshire and Durham. They represent a coherent economic unit often
utilised for long periods of time and can thus provide important information
about developments in agricultural practices in a particular location and
broader patterns of social, cultural and environmental change over several
centuries. Those which survive well and/or which can be positively linked to
associated settlements are considered to merit protection.

The field system and double lynchet trackway 640m south east and 460m east of
Dee Barn survive well and provide an important insight into late prehistoric
farming practice in this area. The fields and boundaries will contain
archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the people who
farmed here and the landscape in which they lived.

Source: Historic England