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Details:
In early 1982 hazel and willow round wood with axed facets was found in the south west bank of Langacre Rhyne at ST39493362. {1}

Subsequent investigation showed this to be the remains of a brushwood structure, the discovery and excavation of which formed part of a research project by RP Cole. The wood was exposed over a distance of 6m in the rhyne face. The E edge of it was found but the W edge was less clear. The structure was up to 150mm thick and was composed of complete roundwood 10mm to 60mm diameter and 50mm to 500mm long, though some pieces were just under 1m long. There were no pieces which were obviously pegs and no individual bundles could be discerned, the wood being generally in a poor state of preservation. Many of the pieces had axed facets. A slight drop in height, from E to W, may have been a contemporary slope or was perhaps due to differential compaction of the peat. The structure was considered to be either two diverging tracks, one running E and one W, or more likely the W end was a platform such as the Beaker site (PRN 23045) with a single track running at the E end. This latter view is supported by the finding of a possible continuation of the track 25m to the SE on its projected line. {3}

The track probably provided a crossing to the higher ground at High Ham or ran into the wetlands for their exploitation. A single radio-carbon date of 790bc has been obtained, which is consistent with the late Bronze age style and technique of construction (compare Tinneys trackways (PRN 24920)). The only non-wooden find was a bone, identified as the left humerus of a mallard, a species which would have been common in the wetlands in winter. {5}

References:

Data kindly supplied by the Somerset Historic Environment Record.
Record created in October 1987
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