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Summary

Large univallate hillfort, aligned approximately north-west to south-east, in the form of a long narrow pear-shaped enclosure with the wider part at the south-east.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1018849: Sidbury Castle
• SHINE: Sidbury Castle. Iron Age hillfort to east of Sidbury

Other References/Statuses

• MPP Archaeological Item Dataset: 144417
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SY19SW/3
• Old SAM County Ref: 254
• Old SAM Ref: 29658
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SY19SW17

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HILLFORT (Iron Age - 700 BC to 42 AD (Between))

Full description

Woollcombe, H., 1839-1850, Woollcombe Manuscript, 31 (Un-published). SDV16214.

Date of visit 1833. Hillside planted - not interior. A house built on east side of hill. Ditches and banks obscured by trees. Fort 1400 feet long by nearly 300 feet wide at broadest. Plan in manuscript. Other details: Abstract on worksheet in Sidbury parish file.

Hutchinson, P. O., 1848-1894, Diaries (Un-published). SDV339321.

Field near entrance enclosed and cleared 1850. Excavation near entrance in 1852, no finds. Reference to possible outworks (classified as ponds in Ordnance Survey visit of 13th April 1950). Finds of sling stones near west end of fort, on clearance and removal of part of banks in 1860s. Plan in manuscript at 24th October 1871. Also entries on 21st September 1848, 16th November 1851, 16th April 1852, and 28th March 1864. Other details: Details on worksheet dated January and February 1986.

Hutchinson, P. O., 1862, On the Hill Fortresses, Tumuli, and some other Antiquities of Eastern Devon (Article in Serial). SDV338169.

Near modern opening at east end is a large heap of flints known as "treasury" or "money heap". Reported that 'golden swords' were once found on the hill; these were probably bronze, if the legend is true. Other details: Plan in Sidbury parish file.

Hutchinson, P. O., 1862, Sidbury Castle (Plan - measured). SDV359050.

Unknown, 1877, Unknown, 107 (Article in Serial). SDV344831.

Some sling stones were found at Sidbury Castle.

Hutchinson, P. O., 1880, 2nd Report of the Barrow Committee, 124 (Article in Serial). SDV123157.

Wall, J. C., 1906, Ancient Earthworks, 587-8 (Article in Monograph). SDV341465.

Other details: Plan and section.

Burnard, R., 1906, Early Man, 366 (Article in Serial). SDV322231.

Worth, R. H., 1927, Proceedings at the 66th Annual Meeting, 27-28 (Article in Serial). SDV338184.

Ministry of Works, 1950, Sidbury Castle (Schedule Document). SDV344826.

A fine Early Iron Age hill fort. Single bank and ditch with counterscarp on the north side - rampart and ditch. Entrance from west, made by prolonging the ends of the ramparts downhill to form a bottleneck. Interior has been ploughed in 19th century. Good condition.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950 - 1980, SY19SW17 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV344827.

Site visit 13th April 1950. A promontory hill fort in a good state of preservation. It appears that excavation has never taken place. Camp with larger interior dimensions than any camp in the area. Pear-shaped with large end tending towards east. Including the neck of the original entrance camp is about 550 metres long and 140 metres wide at its widest. Two aggers with fosse between. Entrance at west end formed by continuation of inner rampart. A platform against outer side of each rampart at about midway point. Within enclosure are two ponds.

Hoskins, W. G., 1954, A New Survey of England: Devon, 476 (Monograph). SDV17562.

Bradley, R., 1971, Stock Raising and the Origins of the Hill Fort on the South Downs, 20-21 (Article in Serial). SDV344832.

Sidbury Camp is an example of a fort acting as the nucleus of a number of separate farms divided from one another by linear dykes. At Sidbury six such earthworks radiate from the defences.

Robinson, R., 1982, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1982 (Un-published). SDV345608.

Site visit by Department of Environment Field Monument Warden on 12th October 1982.

Griffith, F. M., 1983, Sidbury Castle (Personal Comment). SDV344833.

Site visit 18th May 1983. Condition stable, interior obviously much cultivated. Some damage to inner bank on north, which only survives to a height of 1 metre in some places, and in others appears destroyed. Condition generally good.

Griffith, F. M., 1986, DAP/GT, 29a-32a. (Aerial Photograph). SDV99947.

Unknown, 1986, Flints, Neolithic.Bronze Age (Un-published). SDV359045.

Griffith, F. M., 1989, DAP/PQ, 13-15 (Aerial Photograph). SDV344837.

Fox, A., 1996, Prehistoric Hillforts in Devon, 51-2 (Monograph). SDV7958.

Salvatore, J. P., 1998, Sidbury Castle, 144417 (Un-published). SDV344839.

Site visit 2nd December 1997. Sidbury Castle hillfort is aligned approximately north-west to south-east and it takes the form of a long narrow pear shaped enclosure with the wider part at the south-east. The hillfort is about 500 metres long in total with a maximum width of 100 metres. The defences are provided by a single rampart, ditch, and counterscarp bank enclosing a flat interior area which falls away only when in proximity to the rampart where a soil quarry seems likely to have existed around much of the interior of the circuit. The earth rampart, which is 1.2 metres high and nearly vertical on the inside, follows the contours of the hill and utilises the steep break of slope on all sides; it varies in height between 4.4 metres and 9.6 metres on its outer scarp. The rampart is fronted by a ditch 2.9 metres wide and 1 metre deep which is in turn fronted by a counterscarp bank of about 1 metre in height which merges with the natural hill side on its outer slope. The narrow elongated entrance is formed by a twin extension of the ramparts at the north western end producing a bottleneck passageway some 100 metres long which has a sunken appearance which may be the result of its use as a hollow way. A scarped platform which overlooks the hill slope to the west would appear to have provided additional cover for the western approaches to the passageway. At least one hoard of sling stones has been recovered from the monument in the 19th century. It has been suggested that the hillfort was at the nucleus of a number of separate farms divided from one another by linear dykes but the evidence for this is not conclusive. The hillfort is occasionally used by the local community for ceremonies such as wedding blessings and the scattering of ashes.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 1999, Sidbury Castle (Schedule Document). SDV344841.

The monument includes a prehistoric large univallate hillfort known as Sidbury Castle occupying a high elevated position on a steep-sided hill at the end of a Greensand spur just west of the River Sid. It has a defended area of about 4 hectares with a single elongated passageway entrance to the north-west. Some banking which forms an enclosure within the monument in its south-eastern corner is almost certainly post-medieval in origin and occasional breaks in the rampart on the eastern and southern sides are considered to be of comparatively recent date. The depressions caused by two ponds located in the interior may still be seen; neither pond is thought to be contemporary with the use of the site as a hillfort and both may be of post-medieval date. The hillfort of Sidbury Castle survives well in a commanding position with most of its circuit of defences intact and with an exceptionally well preserved passageway entrance. It is one of only very few sizeable hillforts known from west of the River Axe. It will contain archaeological information relating to the construction and use of the site, the lives of its inhabitants, and the landscape in which they lived.

Exeter Archaeology, 2003-2004, East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Archaeological Survey, Site No. 2337 (Archive - Survey). SDV351568.

Sidbury Castle hillfort. Early Iron Age. c. 500m x 100m. Rampart and ditch. Scheduled Monument.
SMR.

English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010: South West, 89 (Report - non-specific). SDV344777.

Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems. Principal vulnerability forestry.

English Heritage, 2010, Management Agreement in Respect of Sidbury Castle (Correspondence). SDV345077.

Agreement between English Heritage and the Occupier regarding the management of the site by the Occupier for a period of five years. See agreement schedule for details.

Ordnance Survey, 2010, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV344030.

Griffith, F. M. + Wilkes, E. M., 2011, In the Footsteps of Pioneering Women; Some Recent Work on Devon Hillforts (Article in Serial). SDV361500.

Tilley, C., 2017, Landscape in the Longue Durée, 299-319, tables 9.1-9.5, figs 9.7-9.17 (Monograph). SDV361032.

Discussion of Woodbury Castle and the other hillforts in the locality, making reference to the East Devon pebblebeds.

Unknown, Unknown, Sidbury Castle (Worksheet). SDV359048.

Illegible, Unknown, Sidbury Castle (Worksheet). SDV359049.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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