More information : An earthwork at SS 48883824 consisting of a raised platform, 12.0 m x 8.0 m, cut from a rock outcrop. It is surrounded on three sides by weak mortared walling to the level of the platform. The north side has no walling. A fine view is commanded on three
sides. Within living memory (a) an Elizabethan type gun stood on this platform. (1)
This sub-rectangular turf-covered level platform is situated in dense woodland just below the crest of a steep ridge at 87m OD. It lies adjacent to an Iron Age hillfort (SS 43 NE 19) and has distant views across the deep, wide valley of the River Caen to Braunton & beyond. It was constructed against a low rock outcrop (on the N uphill side); the three vertical, partially mortared, revetted faces which support the stance on the downhill sides, are from 1m to 2,5m high. There is no evidence of a fence or wall around the edges of the platform which is accessible only from the N side.
Its origin and purpose are unclear, however it was almost certainly not built as a gun platform. The land is owned by Buckland Barton (SS 43 NE 8) and the stance affords fine views of the house and farm buildings 0.75 km to the SW. It may therefore have been constructed as a viewing platform perhaps in the 19th century. (3)
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