More information : [SX 84255105] WOODBURY CAMP [O.E.]. (1)
The remains of a 1st or 2nd century BC Iron Age hillfort can be seen at Woodbury Farm, two-thirds of the enclosure having been levelled and ploughed down. (2)
Scheduled under camps and settlements. (3)
A survey has been made of the earthwork, which is poorly shown on the O.S. 25 inch of 1904.
Woodbury Camp is situated on the summit of a hill giving an
excellent all round view. The natural slopes are not very steep
and are of little defensive value in themselves.
The earthworks consist of a single bank and ditch but only the northern side which forms the division between two fields is
in a good state of preservation. The remainder has been reduced by ploughing but except for the south east quadrant is still clearly visible. The original entrance is not obvious but may have been in the south east corner. The gap in the north-west corner is probably modern. Although much mutilated this earthwork is recognisable as a typical univallate Iron Age Hill Fort. (4)
SX 8425 5105: Woodbury Camp. A univallate hillfort situated on a locally prominent hill at circa 150 metres O.D. The underlying geology is Devonian slates and a fault line at the surface crosses the site from east to west (a).
The defences are D-shaped in plan, the straight side running along the hill crest on the north and the arc enclosing circa 1.5 hectares (3.7 acres) on a gentle to moderate slope to the south. Viewed from the north the rampart presents an impressive barrier on the skyline. The fort now lies in three fields, the north one under pasture, the south and south west ones recently planted for arable at the time of survey. The north rampart is well preserved, a striking feature in comparison to the rest of the circuit. It has been used as a field boundary since at least 1803 (b) although it is not crowned by a hedge. It is steep-sided and rises a maximum 3.5 metres above the present ditch bottom and 2 metres above the interior. The top is narrow and flattish. The ditch has been smoothed and infilled by ploughing, now a gradual south slope 7 metres long and 0.7 metres deep. The remainder of the circuit has been under plough for many years, although in 1841 the rampart and ditch in the south west field appear to have been a prominent feature, covered in scrub and regarded as waste. Mr.Coaker, the present farmer, calls the site "The Mount," a survival of field names recorded in 1841 (c). An O.S. trig station stood at approx SX 8418 5109 between 1886 (d) and 1945 (e). The whole west arc remains as a good outward scarp averaging 10 metres wide and 0.8-1.8 metres high, with only slight traces of the internal slope visible at A (see plan),rampart material is therefore spread to a width of circa 25 metres. The ploughsoil over the rampart is especially stony and possibly represents broken rock spoil from the ditch, although it is possibly related to a more structured form of rampart. Around the south and south west the former ditch is marked by a terrace 8 metres wide between the foot of a rampart and a resumption in the hillslope. At C, a low slope circa 0.3 metres high is possibly a badly ploughed counterscarp bank. The rampart in the south field is the most affected by ploughing, although its course is still clear. It is a long, outward scarp 0.7-1 metres high except toward the north east corner at B where a long, flattened inner slope remains.
There is no trace of an entrance anywhere on the circuit.
At D a low scarp in the ploughsoil marks the site of a former field boundary. Surveyed at 1:2500. (5)
A rapid examination of air photography (6a) shows the hillfort as earthworks and cropmarks. A number of possible gaps are visible but none could definitely be called an entrance. Photography of July 1989 shows the western end of the hillfort as parchmarks. These include an apparent substantial ditch visible in the northwest arc. However, this is an upraised area, both on the air photograph and according to field survey, so this may represent indications of rebuilding of the rampart (for example it may be a foundation trench for a box rampart). The southern field was pasture in 1980 but is being ploughed in 1989 while the western field was being ploughed in 1980 but is pasture in 1989. (6)
SX 8426 5104: Slight univallate Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age hillfort west of Dartmouth. Visible as an oval enclosure defined by a rampart. Aligned east to west its interior measures 160 metres long by 110 metres wide. 2 faint earthwork terraces are visible on the west side of the interior. On the eastern side a natural hollow contains a spring. The outer ditch is marked by a terrace 8 metres wide. 2 entrances are visible. Possibly an original one is on the south side where a reduction in rampart height coincides with a faint hornwork projecting from the rampart to the east. This is 10 metres wide by 0.3 metres high and projects 30 metres from the rampart. A reduction in height on the south west side of the hillfort suggests a later entrance cut through the earthworks. Scheduled.( 7) |