See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Tramp's Shelter at Chudleigh Rocks contained Upper Palaeolithic material including flint blades

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1017681: Tramp's Shelter, Chudleigh Rocks
• Registered Park or Garden (II*) 1000705: UGBROOKE PARK

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 1166363
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX87NE/64
• Old SAM Ref: 10721
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX87NE29

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CAVE (Upper Palaeolithic - 38000 BC to 8001 BC (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Black Rock' shown on 19th century map.

Anon, 1963, Tramp's Cave, Chudleigh, 6 (Article in Serial). SDV346805.

Tramp's Cave at Chudleigh Rocks. Cave contains a series of soil horizons with stalagmite above and stony cave earth below. Fauna are not numerous. One layer below stalagmite produced charcoal and some worked flint blades. No microliths.

Rosenfeld, A., 1969, The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic, 134 (Article in Monograph). SDV322027.

In this small shelter a backed blade industry with obliquely blunted blades has been recovered from a cave earth containing bos, equus and cervus elephas.

Bonsall, C., 1977, Gazetteer of Upper Palaeolithic Sites, 424 (Article in Serial). SDV312413.

A possible Later Upper Palaeolithic site excavated in 1968.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1978, SX87NE29 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV346767.

Tramp's Cave shelter produced evidence of an Upper Palaeolithic backed blade industry.

Jacobi, R. M., 1979, Early Flandrian Hunters in the South-West, 49 (Article in Serial). SDV117514.

Other details: Figure 1.

Griffith, F. M., 1986, DAP/GU, 1-2,5-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDV338019.

Griffith, F. M., 1987, DAP/IB, 10-15 (Aerial Photograph). SDV312427.

Griffith, F. M., 1988, DAP/JQ, 10-12 (Aerial Photograph). SDV346766.

Griffith, F. M., 1988, Devon's Past. An Aerial View, 20 (Monograph). SDV64198.

Department of Environment, 1992, Tramp's Shelter, Chudleigh Rocks (Schedule Document). SDV312458.

Tramp's Shelter or Tramps's Hole is located on the south side of the Kate Brook Valley, 21m above the valley floor. The cave is situated halfway up the steep limestone bluff and has a south-west facing entrance. The mouth of the cave is about 6 metres wide and 2-3 metres high, forming a cavity approximately 10 metres deep. The back of the shelter is choked with large limestone blocks and stalagmitic deposits. There are considerable remaining deposits on either side of the cave which appear to be overlain by stalagmites. Small-scale excavations in the 1960s revealed small quantities of Upper Palaeolithic artefacts and fauna. Subsequent investigations confirmed the presence of further undisturbed material of this age and charcoal remains. The monument includes the whole of the cave and its contained deposits as far as the drip line at the entrance. Palaeolithic caves and rock shelters provide some of the earliest evidence of human activity in the period from about 400,000 to 10,000 years ago. Tramp's Shelter is one of three caves in the valley known to contain significant Palaeolithic deposits. Although partly excavated the cave retains considerable potential for the preservation of archaeological and environmental evidence. Other details: Monument 10721.

National Monuments Record, 2011, 1166363 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV346806.

One of a number of small caves, shelters and fissures at Chudleigh Rock. Investigations at Tramps' Shelter have recovered a small Upper Palaeolithic flint assemblage and animal remains. Some excavation was also undertaken in 1980. During Ordnance Survey field investigation in 1982, the shelter was concealed by overburden and quarry waste deposited shortly before 1973 when Palce Quarry was re-opened for a brief period.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV1786 - BLADE (Upper Palaeolithic - 38000 BC to 8001 BC)

Associated Events: none recorded

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.