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Summary

Litchdon Street is on the site of a Breton settlement established outside the walls circa 900AD. Litchdon Street was also the site of pottery production from at least the 16th century until 1989.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS53SE/95

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ROAD (X to XXI - 901 AD to 2009 AD)
• SETTLEMENT (X to Late Medieval - 901 AD to 1539 AD)
• POTTERY WORKS (Medieval - 1066 AD (Between) to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

Rogers, W. H. H., 1942, Barnstaple Turnpike Trust, 145 (Article in Serial). SDV13579.

The east end of Litchdon Street was the starting point of the turnpike known to exist in 1828 that ran from Barnstaple through Newport and Landkey to Kerscott Hill in Swimbridge where it linked with the road to South Molton.

Gidman, G. H., 1945, Tenth Report of the North Devon Branch, 133 (Article in Serial). SDV90940.

Litchdon Street is on the site of an old Breton settlement established outside the town walls. Many Bretons fled to Devon circa 900AD. (There is a documentary reference to 'Lydwycheton' in 1329.) Exact location of settlement unknown.

The Wessex Ceramics Group, King Alfred's College, Winchester, 1998, National Database of Medieval Pottery Production Centres: Devon, 798 (Monograph). SDV352614.

Early potters are known to have been located on Litchdon Street, close to the River Taw.

Morris, B., 2017, The Missing Link - the Exeter Inn, Barnstable: North Devon Pottery in the 16th century, 273 (Article in Serial). SDV364161.

Litchdon Street is first documented in 1329 and there is documentary evidence for pottery works on the street dating back to the 16th century.
Evaluation and excavation in the yard of the Exeter Inn in 2010-11 and 2015 revealed six very large intercutting pits, each 3-4m across and 1-2m deep, together with a number of smaller pits, filled with pottery waste. More than 50,000 sherds of pottery waste, including pottery, tile, and also fragments of kiln structure and furniture, were recovered from the pits. This was mostly dated to the 16th century, with some potentially from the late 15th century or earlier.
Thomas Brannam bought a pottery on Litchdon Street in c.1835, which continued in production until 1989.

Ordnance Survey, 2021, MasterMap 2021 (Cartographic). SDV364015.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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