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Summary

A banked ditch is visible on images derived from lidar data as a reverse L-shaped earthwork on the south-east facing slopes within Round Covert, Hennock, overlooking the Teign valley, south-west of Chudleigh. The earthwork may be a cromwellian defensive structure, although a prehistoric date has also been suggested.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Round Covert. Earthworks of possible Civil War entrenchment

Other References/Statuses

• National Record of the Historic Environment: 141702
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX87NE/15

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSURE? (Early Bronze Age to Roman - 2200 BC to 409 AD (Between))
• SIEGEWORK (XVII - 1642 AD to 1651 AD (Between))
• FOLLY (XVII to XIX - 1652 AD to 1840 AD (Between))

Full description

ANON IN DAS NEWSLETTER, Untitled Source (Report - Survey). SDV290195.

Vis=3/6/1953(os) round covert has been cleared of trees to reveal earthwork consisting of ditch cut into slope of hill with upcast thrown on lower side to form slight bank. The ditch makes a rough right-angle, one arm being north-south, the other east-west. A few metres above a platform has been dug into the hillside. A number of features suggest that the entrenchment is cromwellian. From the entrenchment almost the whole of chudleigh can be surveyed and roads kept under observation. The platform could have been used for cannon (os). Partly ploughed out. Well below crest of hill. Causewayed entrance. Author is uncertain about the nature of the site (anon in das newsletter).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV290196.

Osa=sx87ne5.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV290197.

Anon/das newsletter/12(1965)5/round covert earthwork.

South West Heritage Trust, 1838-1848, Digitised Tithe Maps and Transcribed Apportionments (Cartographic). SDV359954.

The plot is recorded as Plot 316, Pleasure House Brake, possibly suggesting a former garden feature returned to cultivation.

Fairy Surveys Ltd, 1964, FSL/6412 V, FSL/6412 V 2072-2073 07-FEB-1964 (Aerial Photograph). SDV357115.

An earthwork ditch and platform are visible.

Environment Agency, 1998-2017, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) EA: South Devon Coast to Dartmoor, LIDAR SX8579 Environment Agency DTM 01-JAN-1998 to 31-MAY-2017 (Cartographic). SDV361470.

An earthwork ditch and platform are visible.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2018-2019, The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping Survey. Area 1, Haldon Ridge to Dart Valley (AI&M) (Interpretation). SDV361305.

A ditch is visible on images derived from lidar data as a reverse L-shaped earthwork circa 10m wide and circa 125m long, on the south-east facing slopes within Round Covert, Hennock, overlooking the Teign valley, south-west of Chudleigh. A narrower bank, circa 4m wide, was visible in the inner, upslope side of the ditch.
The eastern, north-south aligned arm of the ditch closely follows the contour of the slope, whilst the southern arm turns west, to climb the slope towards the crest of the hill, exaggerating the topography of a small spur formed by the shallow combe of a spring-fed flowing east towards the Teign. This does not support the interpretation of the earthwork as an unfinished prehistoric enclosure but may support a function as a temporary emplacement overlooking the river valley road to the south.
An oval embanked platform circa 20 by 12m in size overlooks the ditch from the north-east. Trackway hollows suggest it was accessed from the west. This may be contemporary with the ditch and could have been a cannon emplacement suggested by previous authorities.
Recorded as Plot 316, Pleasure House Brake on the Tithe Apportionment for Hennock, an alternative interpretation for the inner earthwork platform could be suggested. It is possible that the defensive earthworks created a viewpoint over the Teign valley that was enhanced as a recreational landscape feature, perhaps a folly, by the landowners or tenants of Huxbear House following the conflict.
The earthworks remain obscured from view on aerial photographs by dense woodland, although the lidar derived images indicated that they survive in good condition.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV290195	Report - Survey: ANON IN DAS NEWSLETTER.
SDV290196	Migrated Record:
SDV290197	Migrated Record:
SDV357115	Aerial Photograph: Fairy Surveys Ltd. 1964. FSL/6412 V. Fairy Surveys Ltd aerial photograph. Photograph (Paper). FSL/6412 V 2072-2073 07-FEB-1964.
SDV359954	Cartographic: South West Heritage Trust. 1838-1848. Digitised Tithe Maps and Transcribed Apportionments. Tithe Map and Apportionment. Digital.
SDV361305	Interpretation: Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R.. 2018-2019. The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping Survey. Area 1, Haldon Ridge to Dart Valley (AI&M). Historic England Research Report. Digital.
	Linked documents:1
SDV361470	Cartographic: Environment Agency. 1998-2017. LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) EA: South Devon Coast to Dartmoor. Environment Agency LiDAR data. Digital. LIDAR SX8579 Environment Agency DTM 01-JAN-1998 to 31-MAY-2017. [Mapped feature: #114016 ]

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7515 - The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping (formerly NMP) Survey (Ref: ACD1748)

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