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Summary

Univallate hillfort above junction of River Yeo and Button Water

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1002511: Hillfort, Cunnilear or Coneybeare Wood
• SHINE: Iron Age hillfort above Cunnilear Wood

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS63NW/8
• Old SAM County Ref: 413
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SS63NW5

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Ministry of Works, 1958 - 1959, Hillford (Cunnilear or Coneybeare) Wood (Schedule Document). SDV345849.

Univallate fort, at end of spur, above junction of River Yeo and Button Water. It has been ploughed down, except at the entrance, where rampart and ditch measure 45 feet overall, 24 feet on scarp. On the west side only the scarp of the rampart is visible. There is a band of outcrop in the centre of the enclosure, and some of it has been quarried. Map object based on this Source.

Fox, A., 1959, Twenty-Fifth Report on the Archaeology and Early History of Devon, 171-172 (Article in Serial). SDV343851.

Grinsell, L. V., 1970, The Archaeology of Exmoor, 201 (Monograph). SDV1641.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1973 - 1977, SS63NW5 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV345850.

Site visit 19th November 1953. On the west end of a promontory where the land falls gently to the north and sharply to the west and south, is an irregular-shaped earthwork. North side consists of fairly strong glacis type bank and hendge. In the east, on fairly level ground, is an inturned entrance with weak ditch outside, and to the immediate north, within the earthwork, a ridge outcrop runs up the centre, from the entrace to the south-west apex of the hill.
Site visit 25th July 1973. Cunnilear earthworks generally as described. Slight evidence that ditch originally extended along the weaker north side. Other details: Plan.

Vulliamy, C., 1997, Untitled Source (Correspondence). SDV345852.

Proposals regarding woodland planting at Cunnilear Woods. Possible unrecorded outworks noted at southern end of hillfort and some distance to the north, the latter existing as field boundaries.

Walls, T., 1999 - 2000, Earthwork Enclosures in North-East Devon and Their Late Prehistoric Landscape (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV341596.

Irregular shape on account of topography. North and east rampart is a scarp, southern rampart is a bank. Ditch and bank survive to north of entrance. Fairly level area suitable for huts to north of spine of rock but no trace of platforms. Entrance has a modern fence running through it and there is a dump of stone and fencing on bank to north of entrance. One of a concentration of enclosures in this area. Above the junction of two waterways and has connections with major ridge to north-west.

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

Map object based on this Source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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