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Summary

Cholwich Town Reave North has been recorded by field and aerial survey as an earthwork bank approximately 1060m long, closely following the contours of the south-west facing slopes of Lee Moor.
The bank is clearly identifiable on aerial photographs of the 1940s, digital images derived from aerial photographs of the 2000s and visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Cholwich Town, Penn Beacon and Shell Top Reaves. Earthworks of Bronze Age boundary works with adjacent prehistoric enclosures and hut circles, cairns and stone rows
• Scheduled Monument 1017399: Cholwich Town contour reave, cairn and two enclosures

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SE82
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439340
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/224
• Old SAM County Ref: 587
• Old SAM Ref: 10754

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• REAVE (Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

AM, Untitled Source (Report - Survey). SDV153002.

Vis=est=-/-/1990 (ancient monuments) 1.1km length of cholwich town reave. Bank of earth and stone 1.75m wide, 0.6m high, faced with orthostats at its wider e end. Two entrances: one near the middle, another just nw of enclosure at e end (am).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV153005.

Osa=sx56se94.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, Devon County Council RAF/CPE/UK/1890 2292-2293 10-DEC-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

A curvilinear bank is identifiable as an earthwork.

Fleming, A. + Collis, J. + Jones, R. L., 1973, A Late Prehistoric Reave System near Cholwich Town, Dartmoor, 5-8, 14, 15 figs 1,3 plate 1 (Article in Serial). SDV358808.

Total length: 1100 m. Start of wall: SX 58406410, End of wall: SX 59326348
This reave starts on the edge of boggy ground in the col to the east of Great Trowlesworthy Tor. At its western end it is broken by several gaps, most or all of them being related to the numerous later cart-ruts which cross the reave running SSE-NNW. The section between the bog and the large cairn, some 210 metres long, is fairly straight, and may have been aligned on Little Trowlesworthy Tor (Pl. l). The relationship between the reave and the cairn cannot be satisfactorily established since the cairn has been greatly disturbed: it is not likely that the reave underlies the cairn, but whether it joins it or rides over it cannot now be established. The reave appears to broaden slightly as it approaches the cairn, especially on the S. side. The cairn is some 13 m. in diameter.
South of the cairn there is a slight change of alignment, the reave now being apparently aligned on Great Trowlesworthy Tor. However, some 50 m. S. of the cairn the reave changes direction again, apparently to follow the contours at roughly the point where the flatter land to the north-east falls more steeply in a south-westerly direction. At first the reave follows the scarp, but subsequently it chooses flatter land some metres north-east of the scarp edge.
At 290 metres from <> ground at this point <> the first piece of wall to be completed was that built from Cholwich Town Main Enclosure in a northerly direction. The gang building the north-west section of the reave was working along the contour, aligning the reave on the wall of the Main enclosure and on the line of the reave completed by the first gang. The two sections had to be joined by a short section of walling, producing the kink on the plan. At a further 150 metres is what may have been an original entrance. Here there is a slight hollow-way, and no sign in the gap of the reave having been demolished. Once again the entrance is placed at a point where a slight declivity would give a little shelter to men and animals proceeding on to or off the upper part of the moor, and the whole line of the reave, with its sweeping curve at this point, appears to take this into account. About 80 m. to the south of this point, the reave changes character and begins to be faced with orthostats. Some 130 metres east of the (?) original entrance an abundance of surface stone permitted the building of an orthostatic facing for the wall. In general the wall width here is 1.30-1.70 m. At c.300 m. from the "original entrance" the wall as it approaches Cholwich Town Main Enclosure becomes massive, reaching a
measured width of 1.75 m. Just N. of the Main Enclosure is a broad gap, associated with a hollow-way. The near absence of stone tumble here suggests another possible original entrance. The nature of the junction with the enclosure wall is not clearly visible.

Total length: 1100 m. Start of wall: SX 59396337, End of wall: SX 59946252
A butt-joint at the S. corner of the enclosure suggests that this section of the reave post-dates the Main Enclosure. At about 130 metres south of the Main Enclosure the wall loses its orthostatic character, and reaches a stretch where its line is clearly visible beneath thick grass turf. The reave still appears to be laid out along the contours. At 300 m. from the enclosure the reave is overlaid by heavy bog deposits. At 320 m. there is an isolated dry patch with an apparently original entrance gap. At about 350 m. from the enclosure the reave swings further east. The bog is clearly subsequent to the reave, which must have been laid out in drier conditions; this is indicated by its submergence, by the position of the entrance here, and by the fact that a simple change of alignment would have avoided the bog altogether had it presented problems when the reave was built.
On this different alignment the reave continues, following the contours in its path towards Rook Reave. There are a number of gaps, of uncertain date. In the eastern section a major problem is the course of the last 300 metres before Rook Reave. The reave leaves Rook Reave and runs for about 50 m. along the contours; then it swings to the SW, for no obvious reason. However, the most plausible explanation is provided by the existence of the enclosure to the NE. at SX 598628. The entrance of this enclosure faces S. and the contours are such that the only land close to the enclosure and within immediate sight of it is to the S. and SW. Furthermore, the point where the wall swings south 50 m. after it has left Rook Reave is precisely the point where the builders would first catch sight of this enclosure. It seem a plausible hypothesis that the reave is deliberately swung to the south to allow a sort of "home paddock" for the inhabitants of the upper enclosure.
As mentioned elsewhere, the junction with Rook Reave does not allow a firm decision to be made about constructional priority here.
The reave system can only be interpreted as a boundary system, probably of a territorial nature, and appears to be contemporary with the Bronze Age hut circles and enclosures.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1977, SX56SE82 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV153007.

(31/08/1977) SX 58446408 to SX 59956250. 'Chelwich Town' reave is as described by Fleming and Collis (1973). It is associated with the following sites: the enclosure SX 56 SE 118; the cairn SX 56 SE 9; the enclosed settlement SX 56 SE 59. with which it is integrated; the enclosed settlement SX 56 SE 61, which lies to the north of the reave; and 'Rook' reave SX 56 SE 81.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD.

Fleming, A., 1978, The Prehistoric Landscape of Dartmoor. Part 1: South Dartmoor, 97-123 (Article in Serial). SDV235265.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

Visible and recorded on Royal Air Force photographs.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 1999-2017, Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery SX5962 03-MAY-2007 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363087.

A curvilinear bank is identifiable as an earthwork

NERC, 2013, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) Tellus: South Devon to Dartmoor, LIDAR SX5863-SX5963 Tellus DTM 01-JUL-2013 to 31-AUG-2013 (Cartographic). SDV361514.

A curvilinear bank is identifiable as an earthwork

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2019-2020, The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping Survey. Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (AI&M, formerly NMP) (Interpretation). SDV362982.

A bank known as Cholwich Town Reave North is identifiable on aerial photographs of 1946, digital images derived aerial photographs of 2007 and visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013, as an earthwork 3 to 5m wide and 1060m long.
The visible earthwork follows the 370m contour for much of its length, and is abutted on the south-west edge by the fragmentary enclosure recorded as MDV29982.
The banks alignment changes at the north-western end of the visible feature where the it crosses the contours, possibly changing orientation to incorporate the cairn MDV2517 and be aligned on Great Trowelsworthy Tor.
The southern end of the bank abuts the Cholwich Town hut circle enclosure recorded as MDV2435, that falls outside the survey area.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8148 - The Upper Plym Valley: The Management of an Historic Landscape
• EDV8098 - The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping (formerly NMP) Survey, Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (Ref: ACD2040)

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