More information : SX 765 896 Wooston Castle (NAT) Camp (NR). (1) Class IV. Multivallate forts with wide-spaced lines of defence on promontory sites. Wooston Castle on the south bank of the Teign near Moretonhampstead, Devon, is a structure that resembles the hill-slope forts in certain ways, yet its peculiar plan and situation demand it be assigned to a separate category. The whole fort lies on sloping ground between Mardon Down and the edge of a precipitous fall to the river, running in a wooded gorge, 250 ft below. Thus, whilst the inner zone has good natural defences on the north, the fort as a whole is at a disadvantage in relation to the plateau. The innermost zone is probably a complete enclosure 1 on the end of the bluff jutting into the gorge. The second enclosure is defined by a bank and ditch, stronger than the inner one, drawn across the neck and with its ends resting on the steep scarps in the manner of a promontory fort; the western end has been extended by a slighter bank along the edge of a re-entrant in the gorge as far as the spring head. Two more outer zones are indicated by short lengths of earthwork aligned long the contour, 100 to 200 ft higher up the hillside: these may have been extended by palisades, as has been conjectured at Milber or Llanmadog. The whole fort is entered steeply downhill through simple gaps in the two outer lines of ramparts. The way between the second and third lines is a remarkable hollow-way which winds downhill in an S curve, deepening as it goes. The entry to the second enclosure has a characteristic knobbled rampart end on the west side and a well marked inturn on the east. The entry to the inner most zone is again a simple gap. Dated to 2nd-1st century BC by comparison with similar earthworks which have been excavated. 1 The plantation here was too thick to penetrate in March 1949-50, and trace the eastern side. (2) Wooston Castle occupies a mature conifer plantation on a steep north facing spur. It comprises a defensive enclosure approached through a series of outworks which extend for up to 200m. across the spur from East to West. From South to North the whole complex covers some 500m., descending from 210m. to 140m. O.D. in the process. At the northern extremity the defences lie within 50m. of a precipitous drop to the river Teign. General comments. (See annotated 1:2500 survey for numbers and letters in text). (1.) SX 76708932. The initial approach is demarcated by an apparently unfinished outwork of cross bank type 150m. long, of which the western half is a well developed bank and ditch and the eastern half poorly defined scarps. It is possible that a central entrance was intended. A detached length of weak bank and ditch (A), 20m. from the west end, has no obvious purpose but might represent a fragment of hollow way. To the north the ground appears undisturbed but the profile of the modern hedge bank suggests it extended into the field to the west. (2.) SX 76668941. A bank and ditch, 65m. long, has a central causewayed entrance to the main approach hollow way. The western part of the work is strong and sharply defined; the eastern half fades into the natural ground level as it approaches the modern road. (3.) SX 76678946. The main hollow way, 150m. long, takes a necessarily sinuous course down a steep slope and through a cross bank (4) qv. It averages 2m. deep and is sharply cut with a flat bottom 2m. to 3m. wide at its commencement and becomes progressively more 'V' shaped as it descends. Upcast spread to each side accounts for about only half the volume of earth and shale removed. (4.) SX 76598952. The third outwork, of strong proportions, is 220m. long with well defined terminals resting upon steep slopes at a constriction of the spur. Near the centre are two gaps (B) and (C); both are utilized by modern tracks but, judging by the appearance of the intermediate rampart seem to be original features. (B) At the west end of this rampart its ditch fades to natural ground (ie track) level. The bank has an unmutilated rounded end and is much higher than the rampart to the west side of the entrance. This rampart has recently been cut back to afford vehicular access, but its deep ditch maintains a sharply cut end. There is no evidence of any infilling to form the present trackway. (C) The ditch of the intermediate rampart at the eastern gap is deep and precisely ended to accommodate the hollow way, although all traces of its passage through the outwork have been obliterated by a raised track and modern hedge bank. (D) SX 76598955. To the west of the cross bank Lady Fox's plan shows an extension by way of a weaker bank. This runs down the steep slope and although substantial appears to be a modern boundary as its narrow well cut ditch impinges upon the prehistoric rampart ditch; additional scarping on the northwest side has resulted in a terrace at the base of the boundary. (E) SX 76598955. Between the cross bank (4) and the enclosure (5) there is a broad, relatively low bank, with traces of a ditch on its west side. This earthwork might represent a continuation of the hollow way except that its northern end rests on the enclosure ditch immediately east of the entrance. (5.) SX 76508957. The interior of the main Wooston Castle enclosure is fairly flat from east to west. It occupies 2.2ha. at the spur end, with, beyond it to the north, a small triangular area of dead ground. A weak bank and ditch delineates the west side of the enclosure continuing around the north as a scarp and ditch; on the east it survives merely as a scarp with an outer terrace. The southern side becomes progressively stronger as it approaches the original entrance, the gap of which has been mutilated by the construction of a modern bank. To the east of the entrance both rampart and ditch have been enlarged to massive proportion, similar to the cross bank (4), and extended to reach the steep natural slope. This extension is 50m. beyond what was apparently the original south-east corner. (F) (SX 76608963). Here the use of gang or section construction is clear as the enlarged defence work meets in an incomplete state at (F), upon two slightly different alignments. Conclusion:- The initial phase of development of Wooston Castle appears to have been the main enclosure and probably the hollow way (3), and versions of the outworks (2) and (4), all of which have traces of secondary work. Bank and ditch (1) is clearly unfinished. It was presumably intended as an addition to the outwork area, with possibly an extension to the hollow way, and is indicative of a last phase. The small outwork (2) has no obvious defensive potential since it crosses barely one quarter of the spur, and yet its angle, relative to the hollow way, provides a poor form of funnel entrance for animals. Near its west end the bank appears to have been re-furbished. The hollow way appears to have been partly re-cut or cleaned out since along its western edge an additional material overlies the earlier upcast and the inner face of cross bank (2) at its entrance. For practical purposes the hollow way now ceases at the cross bank (4). Cross bank (4) is curious in having a simple entrance very near that for the hollow way, both apparently initial conceptions. Both rampart and ditch exhibit dump construction and although the western extremity stops some 15m. short of the crest of the ridge the overall coverage is exceptionally good. The entrance gap of the enclosure appears to be original but if the hollow way formerly entered the enclosure here it must have been adjacent and curtailed at the time of the re-building. Surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. Enlargement survey at 1:1250 with profiles. (3)
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