More information : [SS 88562955] Mounsey Castle (NAT) Camp (NR) (1) Mounsey Castle stands on a high promontory just south of the confluence of the Barle and Danes Brook. It is an irregular triangular earthwork with the curved base running almost due E-W and the apex pointing NE. Entrances are at the west end of the NE bank and at thw SW corner. The enclosure is about 170 yds. across the baseof the triangle and 200 yds. from this base to the apex. (2)
Univallate hillfort of under 3 acres (3). (2 & 3) Mounsey Castle is a promontory fort at the southern end of a steep-sided ridge. The defence evidently consisted of a coursed stone wall supplemented by scarping the natural slope. Along the south sideintermittent sections of walling survive up to 0.5m high and 4.0m thick. Elsewhere there is a low bank, or merely the scarp, on which tumbled stone occurs throughout. A quarry ditch is visible within most of the perimeter. There are two entrance gaps: that on the west is certainly original and may have been approached from the south-east by a banked way. The other gap, in the north east, may have been caused by a modern terraced track from the valley below. A small rectangular structure with evidence of chimney, at SS 88602949, is probably a charcoal burners hut. Surveyed at 1/2500. (4) SS 886295. Mounsey Castle. Scheduled. (Listed under 'Camps and Settlements'). (5) Mounsey Castle, in a semi-promontory position with a steep drop to theriver on the west, is a roughly triangular shaped fort. The defences are univallate on the SE and E sides with a ditch and counterscarp on the S. On the W the rampart runs along the top of a very steep slope down to the Barle. On the S the inner rampart can be seen to consist of a drystone wall about 3m thick still surviving several courses high. Behind the W rampart about 40m N of the SW entrance is a large recumbent slab, possibly a fallen standing stone. Visited 1 4 73. (6) Legend has it that a stone at Mouncey Castle fell from the Devil's apron as he was on his way to build Tarr Steps. (7) Additional Bibliography. (8 - 11) SS 885 295. Mounsey Castle. Listed in gazetteer as a univallate hillfort covering 1.75ha. (12)
Mounsey Castle was surveyed at a scale of 1:1000 by the RCHME as part of the Exmoor project. Full details in survey report (13).
Scheduling amended. (14) |