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Summary

A bank defined square enclosure of possible Romano-British or English Civil War date is visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s to 1990s and images derived from lidar data as an earthwork on the south-east facing slopes of a spur overlooking the West Okement River to the south-west of Okehampton.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX59SE/15

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• SQUARE ENCLOSURE (Early Iron Age to Roman - 700 BC (Between) to 409 AD (Between))
• MILITARY EARTHWORKS? (Built, XVII - 1601 AD? to 1700 AD?)

Full description

KING, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV1479.

Between stoney park lane and old road, intersected by a field boundary is a rectangular earthwork. Two banks at right angles, very low with an outer ditch. It is reputedly of the civil war (king).

Untitled Source (Aerial Photograph). SDV217623.

Aph=cpe/uk/1995/1254/date april 1947/retained at archaeology division, ordnance survey, southampton.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV217624.

Osa=sx59se17.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV217625.

Young, e. H. /tda/60(1928)283/okehampton during the civil war 1642-1646.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV217626.

Osa=sx59se14.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV217627.

Silvester, r. J. , + higham, r. A. /pdas/38(1980)63-65 map.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV217628.

Des=king, a. /dcra survey a30 okehampton bypass - final report/(31/1/1979)/ worksheet/in smr.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV217629.

Balkwill, c. /archaeology and development in rural devon/(1977)17/fig 1.

BALKWILL, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV44259.

This enclosure has been recently levelled. Origins uncertain, civil war or possibly roman (balkwill).

Royal Air Force, 1946 - 1949, Royal Air Force Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV342938.

Rectangular feature visible. Map object base on this source.

Timms, S. C., 1976, The Devon Urban Survey, 1976. First Draft, 156 (Report - Survey). SDV341346.

Slight earthworks in open ground to the west of the twon may represent the location of a fort erected into the 17th century during the Civil War.

Silvester, R. J. + Higham, R. A., 1980, Domestic Enclosures of Probable Medieval Date (Article in Serial). SDV55518.

Young describes fortifications "in stony park, described by rattenbury. " rectangular banked site, extant, could be of civil war date (silvester + higham).

GetMapping, 1999 - 2000, Millennium Map 1999-2000 Getmapping (Aerial Photograph). SDV321648.

Earthworks visible.

Environment Agency, 2021, University of Exeter Understanding Landscapes Project - Lidar visualisation (Cartographic). SDV366001.

Banks up to circa 7m wide are visible as earthworks enclosing a roughly square area with eounded corners, approximately 26m square.

Horner, B., 2024, Lidar interpretation (Personal Comment). SDV366090.

Based on the morphology of the earthworks as visible on the Unlocking Landscapes lidar visualisations, the enclosure could be interpreted as Iron Age or Roman in date. A ‘Trendle’ fieldname recorded in the Tithe Apportionments for Okehampton in a plot to the north-east (Plot )could relate to the earthworks and imply a pre-Civil War date (MDV20376).

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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