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Summary

Iron Age hillfort defined by single bank and ditch.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1016228: Hillfort in Ten Oaks Wood
• SHINE: Iron Age hillfort in Ten Oaks Wood

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS51NE/4
• Old SAM County Ref: 698
• Old SAM Ref: 30305

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, SS51NE8 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV339130.

Visited 27/9/1972. Iron age type univallate enclosed settlement 100m NW-SE by 70m, sited on end of a spur. Ditch up to 1.6m deep and 6m wide, with a counterscarp bank 0.6m high, 5m wide, well preserved except on north where entrance must have been. The outer work, mentioned by Oliver, seems to be a later holloway.

Unknown, Ten Oaks Camp (Worksheet). SDV339186.

Extracts from 1955 and 1978 Ordnance Survey mapping on worksheet.

Parry, J. A., 1867, On the Remains of Ancient Fortifications in the Neighbourhood of Bideford (Article in Serial). SDV339185.

Wall, J. C., 1906, Ancient Earthworks, 608-9 (Article in Monograph). SDV341465.

Other details: Plan.

Oliver, M. F. C., 1951, Roborough. Its Manors and Bartons, 239 (Article in Serial). SDV232.

Ten oaks, circular. In the midst of the wood. Rampart and ditch, with agger on outside, are very perfect. 300 paces. An outwork embraces two thirds of its extent on the north west face. The main entrance probably ran through it.

Department of Environment, 1969, Camp in Ten Oaks Wood (Schedule Document). SDV339182.

Visited May 1968. Defensive earthwork on a small hill in a wood above a stream. Oval, about 110 yards NW-SE and 75 yards SW-NE. The defence is a single ditch and outer bank best preserved on S side. The bottom of the ditch averages 2-5 feet below the bank and 5.8 feet below the interior. The bank is of boulders and earth and, like most of the camp is planted with trees.
The N segment extends 14 yards N of the wood into a pasture field, where the ditch has been filled in and the bank eroded down. The entrance, no longver visible, was probably on this side.

Department of National Heritage, 1977, Hillfort in Ten Oaks Wood (Schedule Document). SDV339131.

The monument includes an Iron Age hillfort situated on the summit of a steep inland spur, surrounded on three sides by the valley of a stream, which curves around its base. The monument survives as an oval enclosure with a ditch and outer bank. It is aligned north west-south east. The internal dimensions of the enclosed area are 86m long from NW to SE and 47m wide. The surrounding rampart bank is best preserved on the S side where it is 2.6m wide and 0.3m high internally. Beyond the enclosure and defining its extent is a ditch, and outside this lies an outer bank. The ditch is up to 3.3m wide and the outer bank up to 4.2m wide and to a maximum 2.3m high.

Griffith, F. M. + Quinnell, H., 1983, Site Visit (Personal Comment). SDV338536.

Visited 5/6/1983. As described by OS. The site is however very odd: it does not maximise the defensive potential of the spur. The camp does not extend to the end of the spur but the bank and ditch curve round before the end. The outer bank is perhaps 1m high maximum, and is rather more than just a counterscarp bank. The impression is of a substantial bank outside the ditch, with no bank on the inside of the ditch. The general impression is of a very atypical site, if indeed it is a defended hillslope enclosure at all. Interior smooth, wooded, no traces of hut platforms.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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