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Summary

16th century wall at Dartington Hall associated with the long gallery in the former 'South Court' of Dartington Hall.

Location

Protected Status

• Registered Park or Garden (II*) 1000453: DARTINGTON HALL
• Scheduled Monument 1020167: Ruins and buried remains of the medieval great house at Dartington Hall

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX76SE/3/4
• Old Registered Parks and Gardens Ref (II*): 1421
• Old SAM County Ref: 113
• Old SAM Ref: 34872 (part)
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX76SE12

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WALL (Early Medieval to XIX - 1066 AD to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Office of Works, 1924, Dartington Hall (Schedule Document). SDV177605.

The ruins consist of the Great Hall with its entrace porch and the Kitchen and other rooms to the south of the Hall and the remains of an arched wall on the west side of the second or western court.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1951 - 1980, SX76SE12 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV177575.

Site visit: 17th August 1951. On the south-west side of the dining hall on the edge of the terraced gardens are the remains of a ragstone wall which would appear to be of 16th century date. The wall extends from SX79776264 to SX79806262. In it are six arches of perpendicular form with ashlar mouldings. The purpose of the wall is unknown but it would appear to have been a portion of some kind of building. At the south-east end there is a slightly splayed opening which would appear to have been a window looking out onto the terraced gardens. The archways are also slightly splayed which suggests that if there was a building here the wall formed the south west side of it.

Platt, C., 1962, Excavations at Dartington Hall,1962, 208-24 (Article in Serial). SDV177576.

This wall is the only above ground portion surviving of the south court of Dartington Hall, which was excavated by Platt. The south court consisted of a small central courtyard with a long gallery on the south side (of which the upstanding wall is a part). On the west side was a tower and set of apartments linking the gallery to the main block of the hall. On the east side, a further block of buildings closed off the courtyard, although it did not join up with the great kitchen at the lower end of the great hall. The gallery, a remarkable early ground floor gallery, is dated architecturally (ie by the Beerstone mouldings) to the late 15th, early 16th century. The tower which was either defensive, or a garderobe was probably a little later, as was the west range. It is thought that the east range preceded the gallery. Most of the south court was built about 1500, possibly to house Margaret, Countess of Richmond, who was in possession of Dartington Hall at that time. The court was pulled down and levelled in late 17th century, and the remains covered by a lawn in the early 19th century. Pottery and small finds were mainly of the 17th century, although 13th century pot was also found. Other details: Plan.

Anonymous, 1962 - 1963, Interim Report, 332 (Article in Serial). SDV177577.

Anonymous, 1964, Interim Report, 271 (Article in Serial). SDV177578.

Nenk, B. S. + Margeson, S. + Hurley, M., 1994, Medieval Britain and Ireland 1993, 202 (Article in Serial). SDV12910.

Excavation by Currie in 1993 revealed two phases of medieval building in the area known as 'South Court'. Platt's dating sequence was confirmed, but the situation was shown possibly to be more complex. A building on the site of Platt's tower may still have existed in 1839.

Nenk, B. S. + Margeson, S. + Hurley, M., 1996, Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1995, 251 (Article in Serial). SDV361755.

Dartington Hall (SX798628). During training excavations by C. K. Currie (Gardens Archaeology Project) a further part of the plan of a stone structure known as 'the tower' was revealed on the main lawn (Medieval Archaeology, 39 (1995), 194). Excavations showed that there has been considerable build-up over these ruins to create a level lawn, now known as the Best Lawn. Outside the south wall of the 'tower' considerable quantity of discarded rubbish, dating mostly from the 15th-17th centuries was possibly the fill of a large pit of ditch.
The buried wall at the end of the Bowling green seems to have been built in the post-medieval period, not the medieval, as previously suspected.

Ponsford, M. + Jackson, R., 1996, Post-Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1995, 283-284 (Article in Serial). SDV361715.

Training excavation by C. K. Currie for C. K. C. Archaeology. Same as reported in Medieval Archaeology, Vol 40, 1996.

Nenk, B. S. + Haith, C. + Bradley, J., 1997, Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1996, 248 (Article in Serial). SDV361739.

Dartington (SX798628). Three further trenches were excavated under the direction of Currie (Gardens Archaeology Project) (cf. Medieval Archaeology 40 (1996), 251). These included two trenches on the main lawn to further explore the area around a square-planned structure called the 'tower' by Colin Platt, following his discovery of it in 1962. a third trench continued work on the east end of the bowling green, where a stone wall had been found in 1994.
Platt's ditch of 1962 is questioned, though it is admitted that the evidence is insufficient to disprove it.
Demolition of southern courtyard still seems to have occurred around 1700-1720 but it is possible there may have been other levelling episodes before this.
The only dating evidence of building is a fragment of square-headed window in trench 14 dating to later 15th or early 16th centuries.

Currie, C. K., 1998, Excavations in the Gardens of Dartington Hall, 6th Interim Report, 9 (Report - Interim). SDV159220.

Excavations in 1998 confirmed that the structure known as the 'Tower' was a later feature added to the south-west corner of the courtyard. The original south and west outer walls of courtyard were revealed to their full thickness. They stood over 1 metres high. The south wall was 1.7 metres thick with very pronounced batter on the south side and double stepped foundation. This suggests either a building of some height or element of defence in construction. West wall 1.3 metres thick, appeared bonded into south wall. A measured survey was made of north facing elevation of the ruins of the arches of the 'gallery'. Other details: Copy of report said to be in parish file but missing.

Gaimster, M. + Haith, C. + Bradley, J., 1998, Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1997, 124 (Article in Serial). SDV361756.

Dartington Hall (SX798628). During continuing excavations at Dartington Hall three further trenches were excavated under the direction of C. K. Currie (Gardens Archaeology Project). These recovered evidence of structures overlying the medieval buildings of the south courtyard.
Other structural features on the Best Lawn suggest that the Courtyard was of more than one phase, a suggestion made by evidence in previous years. It would now seem that the structure known as the 'tower' is the earliest building of a sequence in the south-west corner of the courtyard. A massive structure with walls over 1.5 metres thick was found butting against the south-east corner of this building. It is possible that early 16th century architectural fragments found in demolition levels nearby may be related to it, rather than to the tower as was once thought. The idea of a multi-phased courtyard would certainly help to resolve the differences between Platt (1962) and Emery (1975) in their previous attempts at analysing the remains; the former claiming an early 16th century date for the courtyard, the latter a late 14th century date.

Ponsford, M. + Jackson, R., 1998, Post-Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1997, 174 (Article in Serial). SDV361757.

Dartington. Training excavations: three trrenches as reported in Medieval Archaeology Vol 42, 1998.

Gaimster, M. + Haith, C. + Bradley, J., 1999, Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1998, 237 (Article in Serial). SDV361737.

Excavations in the South Courtyard confirmed that the structure known as the 'tower' was a later feature added to the south-west corner of the courtyard. The original south and west walls of the courtyard were revealed to their full thickness for the first time since Platt excavated them in 1962. As Platt had only excavated the tops of the walls, it was instructive to reveal that the walls stood to over 1.0 metre high, and were of considerable thickness. In particular, the south Wall was 1.7 metres thick, with a very pronounced banter on the south side, and a double-stepped foundation. The west wall was slightly thinner at 1.3 metres, but appeared to be bonded into the south wall.
Dating for the gallery remains a matter of controversy. A measured survey of the north face of this structure revealed no evidence to suggest the apparently late 15th/early 16th century windows had been punched through an earlier wall. Work will be continuing in 1999 making a survey of the south face where the evidence is presently less conclusive.

Gaimster, M. + Bradley, J. + Beaumont James, T. + Geake, H., 2001, Medieval Britain and Ireland in 2000, 267 (Article in Serial). SDV361758.

(Final season of work) Recording of the upstanding ruins known as the gallery was completed. These suggest the wall was erected in one build. The date of the structure remains controversial, with different parties supporting a late 14th century date and others one of the early 16th century.
The excavations recovered possible medieval deposits on the Bowling Green, thought to pre-date the building of the later medieval south courtyard. On the main lawn an unexpected return in the east wall of a structure known as the 'tower' explained why walls excavated in previous years did not appear to link up. Writing of the final report is underway.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2002, Ruins and Buried Remains of The Medieval Great House at Dartington Hall (Schedule Document). SDV320266.

Ruins and buried remains of the medieval great house at Dartington Hall includes a section of 16th century wall. To the south of the surviving hall range of the house a grass lawn covers foundations and deposits associated with three further ranges of buildings which, with the south range of the surviving hall, enclosed the inner court. These ranges covered a maximum area of 55 metres by 45 metres. Excavation in 1962 revealed the remains of a free standing stone building of early 14th century date, 8.2 metres by 14.6 metres with walls 1.1 metres wide, 11 metres south of the hall range. The inner court was constructed in the late 14th century; the buildings containing residential apartments in the west with chamber wings to their west and a ground floor pentice facing into the courtyard to the east. There was also a long gallery to the south and a narrow range of buildings to the east. These buildings varied in their dates of construction, the west range being of late 14th and 15th century date, whle the long gallery to the south was of early 16th century date. The buldings were demolished in about 1700 but part of the south wall of the long gallery, 24 metres long, 1.0 metres wide and 3.5 metres high was retained. See schedule document for full details of scheduled areas.

English Heritage, 2004, Dartington Hall (Register of Parks and Gardens in England). SDV346562.

A short arcade of ruined masonry surviving from the former south courtyard forms part of the south side of the upper terrace which together with the lower or Bowliing Green terraces was designed by H. Avray Tipping in 1928.

Richards, A., 2005, Untitled Source (Personal Comment). SDV177554.

Section circa 30 metres long of a 16th century wall circa 4 metres high running west to east to the southwest of Dartington Great Hall. Two of the six large openings have steps to the lower garden level and a smaller opening is located at the eastern end. Other details: Photos.

Emery, A., 2008, Dartington Hall: A Mirror of the Nobility in Late Medieval Devon, 235-242 (Article in Serial). SDV361760.

The south court is re-appraised, and its chronology in Currie and Rushton (2004, 206) is challenged.
The development is split into four stages 1250, in about 1300, followed by 1390s then the late 1470s (p235) then abandoned in four stages.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4972 - Excavations in the Gardens of Dartington Hall

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