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Summary

Rectangular bailey north-west of stone tower, Lydford Castle. Represented by two near parallel banks and ditches running north-west to the edge of the escarpment; the south-east ends merges into the scarp of the motte. The south-west bank and ditch are more pronounced.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1002506: Ringwork, castle, town banks, site of Saxon town and defences at Lydford

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX58SW/8/2
• Old SAM County Ref: 392

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BAILEY (Post Roman to Late Medieval - 410 AD to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

Ralegh Radford, C. A., 1947, Lydford Castle (Pamphlet). SDV336888.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX58SW2 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV230713.

Rectangular bailey north-west of stone tower, Lydford Castle. Represented by two near parallel banks and ditches running north-west to the edge of the escarpment; the south-east ends merges into the scarp of the motte. The south-west bank and ditch are more pronounced.

Wilson, D. M. + Hurst, D. G., 1965, Medieval Britain in 1964, 188 (Article in Serial). SDV6878.

Interim report for excavation.

Saunders, A. D., 1980, Lydford Castle, Devon, 123-186 plan (Article in Serial). SDV253674.

Excavation by Saunders in four places: (1) across the mound ditch; (2) the interior of the bailey on the outer lip of the mound ditch, where evidence for a timber structure was revealed. Thought to be a tower associated with a bridge across the mound ditch. Subsequently (17th and 18th century) this was replaced by a causeway (3) across the north-east bailey rampart and ditch:- here it was demonstrated that the rampart was constructed after digging of mound ditch which was later filled in (4) across the north-west rampart. Three main periods of construction noted period 1 was identified as the bank of the Saxon burghal defences (MDV14315), period 2 representing a later addition, and period 3, a crude heightening of 13th/14th century.

Thomas, C., 1981, A Provisional List of Imported Pottery in Post-Roman Western Britain and Ireland, 9 (Article in Serial). SDV140321.

The period 2 bank contained a fragment of imported Mediterranean ware identified as African red slip ware.

Ancient Monuments, 1989, Lydford; Ringwork, Castle, Town Banks, Site of Saxon Town and Defences (Schedule Document). SDV351489.

Originally a two storey 12th century tower 15.8 metres square with walls 3 metres thick. Rebuilt in the 13th century with 2 metre thick walls and a mound built up round the ground floor of the original tower. Ground floor infilled; rectangular bailey part bounded by Saxon earthwork.

Manning, P., 2008, Archaeological Assessment of Proposed Sewage Treatment Works at Lydford, 7 (Report - Assessment). SDV351460.

Ordnance Survey, 2012, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV348725.

Map object is based on this source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6171 - Archaeological Assessment of Proposed Sewage Treatment Works at Lydford (Ref: 08.31)
• EDV6180 - Survey of the Town and Castle Earthworks at Lydford
• EDV6566 - Watching brief during reinstatement of the site compound adjacent to Lydford Castle (Ref: OA1009)
• EDV7078 - Evaluation on land adjacent to Lydford Castle (Ref: 7486)
• EDV8454 - Watching brief within Lydford Castle grounds
• EDV8455 - Watching brief on land at Lydford (Ref: ACD163)

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.