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Summary

Circular feature depicted on the 1840 tithe map, possible site of obelisk. Nothing is left of the monument although at the time of a site visit in 2015, the ground in the area of where the monument was located was strewn with shillet.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• MOUND (XIX to XXI - 1840 AD to 2015 AD (Pre))

Full description

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

Gent, T. + Manning, P., 2016, Lifton Wood and the Development of the Surrounding Area. (Report - Assessment). SDV359657.

This desk-based assessment was carried out between August 2015 and February 2016 to assist in the interpretation of a recently rediscovered hilltop enclosure and other features in Lifton Wood, Lifton, Devon.

19th-century illustrations of Lifton Park depict an obelisk on the hill behind the mansion. The hill is shown without tree cover, although an earlier painting, of 1793, suggests the hilltop was then wooded. On the tithe map (Fig. 6) there is a circular feature at the approximate top of the hill. A mound (f) is identified by the SWLI survey at the same location and is interpreted as the site of the obelisk. It has been suggested that a rubble-stone mound (z), located to the south-east of the enclosure, may represent part of the obelisk. As this lies at a reasonable distance from the suggested obelisk position, the matter requires further study.

Newman , P., 2016, Lifton Wood Hilltop Enclosure, Devon (Report - Survey). SDV359658.

An earthwork survey of Lifton Wood Hilltop Enclosure was commissioned by Bill Horner, Devon County Archaeologist, following encouraging results from a LiDAR transcription.

A circular mound with a hollowed centre, which clearly represents a later intervention within the Hilltop enclosure. The top of this mound is at the highest point of the Lifton Wood summit and corresponds with the approximate location of what is assumed to be a monument, known to have existed from a 19th century illustration (Gent and Manning 2016, 7), and depicted on the tithe map of 1840 as a small circle. The diameter of the top of the mound is 6.5 metres. Nothing remains of the monument, but the mound is strewn with fragments of shillet.

The base of the mound, which has a spread of 15 metres, has obscured the original terminal of the counterscarp and part of the ditch of Lifton Wood Hilltop Enclosure, at the site of what was probably the enclosure’s entrance, located in the angle at the northern sector of the circuit.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6998 - EarthWork Survey, Lifton Wood Hilltop Enclosure
• EDV6997 - Desk-Based Assessment of a Hilltop Enclosure in Lifton Wood and the Development of the Surrounding Area. (Ref: 1155)

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