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Summary

A concentration of earthwork pits and trenches of Second World War date are visible on aerial photographs of 1946 onwards and on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2016.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1003862: Woodbury Castle

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BOMB CRATER (World War II - 1939 AD to 1945 AD (Between))
• SLIT TRENCH (World War II - 1939 AD to 1945 AD (Between))
• WEAPONS PIT (World War II - 1939 AD to 1945 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/106G/UK/1412, RAF/106G/UK/1412 4270-71 13-APR-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV352504.

The earthwork pits are visible.

Royal Air Force, 1954, RAF/82/1034, RAF/82/1034 F21 006-007 04-OCT-1954 (Aerial Photograph). SDV358441.

A number of earthwork pits are visible.

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R., 2014-2015, East and Mid Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV356883.

A concentration of earthwork pits and trenches of Second World War date are visible on aerial photographs of 1946 onwards, on Woodbury Common. The earthworks are dispersed across an area of approximately 3.9 hectares of moderate to steep west and east facing slope, either side of a prominent ridge occupied to the south by Woodbury Hillfort and dissected by the B3180. The earthworks are dominated by concentrations of small circular to irregular shaped pits and trenches generally between 1.5 to 7m in length/diameter. The earthworks likely represent either artillery shell craters or weapon pits, or combination of the two, associated with Dalditch infantry camp located further to the south. The earthworks are likely to be more extensive than has been transcribed here owing to the subtle nature of the features. Other concentrations of similar such earthwork features are visible across Woodbury Common to the north and south. A number of the earthwork pits are visible on aerial photographs of 1954 and although the earthworks are not clearly visible after this date, subtle earthworks may well still survive.

Bluesky International, 2016, LiDAR DTM data (0.5m resolution) Blackdown Hills and East Devon AONBs: 3 transects, LIDAR SY0387 Bluesky International DTM 24-APR-2016 (Cartographic). SDV359714.

Earthwork pits are visible.

Passmore, A., 2018, Woodbury Common, Devon: Archaeological Survey of Fire Damaged Heathland (Report - Survey). SDV363233.

This document sets out the results of an archaeological survey carried out by AC archaeology on 7 May 2017 and 23 June 2017 of part of Woodbury Common, Devon. The survey covered approximately 31ha of heathland that had been damaged by fire on 23 April 2017.

The mapped extent of these slit trenches partially falls within the survey area, and a concentration of trenches was recorded towards the northeast end of this area. Topographically, this represents the ridgeline either side of the B3180, and top of the slope to the east. A smaller number of trenches are located to the northeast of the current mapped area, although not all of this ground was fire damaged and vegetation may obscure further examples. Here the trenches were generally isolated. On average these measure 1.30 metres long by 0.70 metres wide by 0.20 metres deep. Within this group is a single 6 metres long Z-shaped trench. Two pits had well-defined sharp edges, and are probably of later 20th-century date; one pit was square with spoil around all four sides, whilst the other was T-shaped with spoil on several sides. Several of the pits were cut into the upper side of boundary AC5.

Sims, R., 2020, East Devon AONB Lidar Assessment and Desk based Assessment (Interpretation). SDV363914.

A number of small sub-circular and oval pits, up to 3m long, are visible on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2016. They are interpreted as possible Second World War weapon pits and/or slit trenches.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV352504	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/106G/UK/1412. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/106G/UK/1412 4270-71 13-APR-1946. [Mapped feature: #71924 ]
SDV356883	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R.. 2014-2015. East and Mid Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project. AC Archaeology Report. Digital.
	Linked documents:1
SDV358441	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1954. RAF/82/1034. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/82/1034 F21 006-007 04-OCT-1954.
SDV359714	Cartographic: Bluesky International. 2016. LiDAR DTM data (0.5m resolution) Blackdown Hills and East Devon AONBs: 3 transects. Not applicable. Digital. LIDAR SY0387 Bluesky International DTM 24-APR-2016.
SDV363233	Report - Survey: Passmore, A.. 2018. Woodbury Common, Devon: Archaeological Survey of Fire Damaged Heathland. AC Archaeology. ACD1605/1/0. Digital.
SDV363914	Interpretation: Sims, R.. 2020. East Devon AONB Lidar Assessment and Desk based Assessment. Digital.

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6530 - The East and Mid-Devon Rivers Catchment NMP project (Ref: ACD613)
• EDV5541 - Earthwork Survey at Woodbury Castle
• EDV8192 - Archaeological Survey of Fire Damaged Heathland: Woodbury Common, Devon (Ref: ACD1605/1/0)
• EDV8340 - East Devon AONB Lidar Assessment and Desk based Assessment

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