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Summary

Great Castles field name recorded on the circa 1840 Tithe Apportionment. Several other castle field names are also recorded in the vicinity and may suggest the site of a prehistoric or medieval defended settlement.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS22NW/10
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SS22NW7

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• DEFENCE WORK (Neolithic - 4000 BC (Between) to 2201 BC (Between))
• CASTLE (Medieval - 1066 AD (Between) to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

South West Heritage Trust, 1838-1848, Digitised Tithe Maps and Transcribed Apportionments (Cartographic). SDV359954.

Field called Great Castles on circa 1840 tithe apportionment and circa 1840 tithe map (plot no. 189). Name suggests possible earthwork in the vicinity, which could be of medieval or earlier date.

Ordnance Survey, 1906, 17NW (Cartographic). SDV8162.

'Old Quarry' mentioned on this site.

Chope, R. P., 1940, The Book of Hartland, 49 (Monograph). SDV340768.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1978, SS22NW7 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV339846.

Site Visit 30th November 1978. Chope mentions a castle that was near Blegberry. The Tithe Map identifies 9 fields incorporating the element 'castle', occupying the top and gentle north and south slopes of a broad ridge, over half a mile from Blegberry farmhouse. The whole area is currently under pasture and neither the field patterns nor the surface provides any indication of an earthwork. However, both the topographic situation and the allusions by name and document strongly suggest that a prehistoric earthwork of the defended settlement type formerly existed in the vicinity.

Higham, R. A., 1979, The Castles of Medieval Devon, 148-151 (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV336189.

Tithe Map field number 179 at SS 23732640 has an embanked area of stoney unploughed land on its south, and to its south the field is rough pasture with an uneven surface, possibly the site of the medieval castle known to have existed near or at Blegberry from about A.D. 1201, although this may have been sited at Blegberry itself. Other details: Fig 47-48..

Timms, S. C., 1980, Blegberry Farm (Worksheet). SDV7363.

Field number 179 (Wester Castle) as described in Higham. No traces of archaeological interest in field to south. The "castle" fields are now predominantly arable.

Collings, A. G. + Manning, P. T. + Valentin, J., 2007, The North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Phase 1. Archaeological Survey. Summary Report, No. 20 (Report - Assessment). SDV339712.

Nine fields on Tithe Map with 'Castle' names mainly around SS238262. On a broad ridge with no surface indications of earthwork. Field 179 (SS23732640) has a stony area to the south - this and the uneven land to south is possibly the site of Blegberry medieval castle.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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