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Summary

Roughly square enclosure of unknown date, within a conifer plantation and bisected by a trackway through the woodland. The banks appear to have been built of limestone rubble, and there is a possible entrance at the south-east corner.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSURE (Unknown date)

Full description

Devon County Council, 1838-1848, Tithe Mosaic, approximately 1838-1848 (Cartographic). SDV349431.

Enclosure is on southern boundary of field 662.

Harris, R., 20/01/2014, King's Wood and Find Spot, Kingsteignton (Correspondence). SDV355845.

Phil Newman paid a site visit to the enclosure and thinks the angled corners mark it out as Romano-British.

Quinn, G. F., 2013, Earthwork, in King's Wood, Kingsteinton, Devon (Report - Survey). SDV355049.

King's Wood is of possible Saxon origin; Kingsteignton itself being a pre-Domesday royal preserve. The earthwork is located adjacent to the southern boundary of King's Wood. The field on the south of this boundary according to the 1840s tithe map is known as Sidbury. The field name Sidbury very probably preserves an echo of the settlement's earlier importance.
The site is located on a spur of land overlooking the steep and narrow valley to the north. The underlying terrain is entirely of Chercombe Bridge Grey Limestone and all the ancient man-made features are of this limestone is quarried either on site or in the immediate vicinity.
Whilst the site itself is sited on Chercombe Bridge Limestone, to the south-west the limestone is overlain with a capping of greensand containing flints.
The Sidbury King's Wood boundary follows a relatively straight line for most of its length until it encounters the earthwork in question, and here it follows the outer defences of the site prior to continuing on its westward course, veering off in a straight line again to the end of a corner on the 90 metre contour level. A large rock just within the boundary and at 137 metres from the eastern end proved to be a convenient reference point in the survey work.
Although now hidden by trees and subject to long obscurity in King's Wood, the earthwork is in a commanding position with a view to the north and west, this view over the un-named stream in the narrow valley below from Whiteway to Rydon and even further still, towards the Bovey Basin.
The line of the ancient Romano-British road, itself of undoubtedly earlier prehistoric origin and importance, falls within this area. Significantly, the Kingsteignton parish boundary follows a northerly course towards Whiteway Barton through the eastern end of King's Wood.
Sites within 10 kilometre radius of the King's Wood enclosure include Milbur Down, an Iron Age defended settlement; Denbury Down Hillfort; Whilborough, (Mill Lane site); Kerswell Down; Bradley Camp; Castle Dyke - Ugbrooke; Castle Dyke - Little Haldon. Of interest also are the numerous limestone plateaux field systems recorded by Gallant, Luxton and Collman, and various cairnfields such as those at Mamhead, Ideford and Thorns Cross.
The southern boundary wall is of limestone with an accompanying ditch and incorporating a hedge providing a substantial barrier. The site as surveyed has a possible entrance on the south east corner giving access to a raised area or ‘platform’, before giving way to a larger lower slope over the rest of the site beyond. The main defences are the two prominent encircling banks and associated ditch between them; which banks on the northwest side follow the natural contour of the spur giving the site a pentagonal outline and making maximum use of this carefully chosen position. The original builders knew what they were doing! There are solid indications of at least one other defensive outer bank and possibly a second. On the slope below the northern banks, and incidentally following the 90 metre contour level, the natural pronounced fall in descent in this area appears to have been incorporated in the defences. A substantial, and in appearance man made, depression on the same contour, could be a source of rock quarried for the construction of the earthwork and conveniently providing additional defensive security. The enclosure appears to be wholly within King’s Wood. Reminiscent of Milber Down Camp in aspect, the King’s Wood site is rather smaller in area, although adequately fitted to the available terrain, being 76 metres East — West, 80 metres North — South and enclosing within the major outer bank (approximately) 6000 square metres and 3000 square metres within the inner bank.
The stereoscopic aerial RAF photographs of 1946 quite clearly indicate the outline of the enclosure within the much overgrown tree covered site, as well as an area of substantial linear crop marks in the adjacent field ‘Sidbury’. The King’s Wood site currently remains intensively wooded, unmanaged and not easy to investigate, many of the trees obscuring sightlines, the ground covered in vegetation with many hidden pitfalls in the way of fallen tree trunks, limestone rocks, rabbit burrows, brambles, etc.
The considered opinion of this recorder is that in this site we have another hitherto unremarked defensive late Iron-Age settlement commanding a prominent ancient route from the northeast towards the southwest. Movement throughout the area of commodities such as salt and other trade goods would be easily controlled and safeguarded. Whiteway Barton mentioned in Domesday, and situated in the valley below, was noted at one time as involved in the salt trade. The defences of the earthwork situated on and fully using the unproductive land of the spur would have left the area of Sidbury easily protected and wholly available for domestic husbandry. Due consideration should be accorded to the field Sidbury in any investigations of the King’s Wood enclosure and further careful investigation and scheduling of both sites is to be recommended.

Irwin, G. I., 2013, Iron Age (?) Defended Settlement (Plan - measured). SDV364856.

Plan and cross section of the enclosure in Kings Wood.

Ordnance Survey, 2013, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV350786.

Map object based on this source.

Reed, S. J., 30/04/2013, Enclosure Site (Worksheet). SDV351120.

Roughly square enclosure within a conifer plantation, consisting of an external bank, ditch and internal bank. The enclosure is bisected by a trackway through the woodland. Maximum width of the earthworks is 14 metres, while the approximate dimensions of the enclosure are: north side, 70 metres; east side, 60 metres, west and south sides, 50 metres. The banks appear to have been built of limestone rubble and are well defined, bedrock in the vicinity is limestone. There is a break in the bank on the eastern end of the southern side which may indicate the presence of an entrance. It is situated on level ground which projects out slightly from the valley side, and would have had good views up and down the valley. There is no dating evidence, and the site has been under plantation since at least the mid 19th century, when the Tithe Apportionment records the fieldname as 'Kingswood'.
Sketch plan attached, map object based on this source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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