Huntsham Castle
| Huntsham Castle | |
|
Devon | |
|---|---|
 Huntsham Castle | |
| Type: | Hill fort |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SS99101785 |
| Location: | 50°57’5"N, 3°26’16"W |
| Village: | Huntsham |
| History | |
| Information | |
Huntsham Castle is an Iron Age Hill fort enclosure found two miles south-west of the litte village of Huntsham in the midst of Devon. It is a scheduled ancient monument.[1]
The fort is at 85 feet above sea level on the edge of the former Parish of Tiverton. The monument includes a slight univallate hillfort situated on a prominent hill overlooking the valleys of two separate tributaries to the River Lowman.
The surviving eathworks show a sub-circular enclosure, defining an area which slopes gently down to the south and measures approximately 165 yards in diameter. It is clearly demarcated on all sides by a rampart which varies in height from 3 feet up to 8 feet internally, being generally of greater height on the northern side of the enclosure. Externally this rampart is up to 10 feet high.
Surrounding the rampart is an outer ditch which measures up to 18 feet wide and 1 foot deep and this is visible on all sides of the monument, although it is predominantly preserved as a buried feature. On the north eastern side, the outer edge of this ditch is defined by a field boundary bank and the infilled ditch has been used in the past as a track.
There is an inturned entrance on the north-eastern side which measures 23 feet wide, and the inturned banks are up to 7 feet wide and 1 foot high. The enclosure is crossed by a parish boundary bank which measures up to 7 feet wide and 5 feet high, and has been partially cut at the north-eastern corner by a quarry, approximately 22 yards long, 16 yards wide and up to 9 feet deep, which lies to the north of the entrance. There is a further quarry to the south of the parish boundary bank, on the western side of the enclosure, and a third quarry to the north-west which has partially cut into the ditch and rampart on this side, htough much of this latter quarry lies just beyond the monument itself.
A further entrance to the enclosure may lie on the western side, where the rampart is seen to kink slightly inwards.
The stock-proof fences around the rampart and ditch, the gates and gateposts which facilitate access, the Ordnance Survey triangulation point which is situated on the north eastern side of the enclosure just above the quarry, and the field boundary bank which defines the outer edge of the ditch in the north eastern corner are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath all these features is included. [2]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Huntsham Castle) |
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1019539: Huntsham Castle
- ↑ R.R.Sellman; Aspects of Devon History, Devon Books 1985 – ISBN 0-86114-756-1 - Chapter 2; The Iron Age in Devon. Map Page 11 of Iron Age hill forts in Devon includes Huntsham Castle.