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Summary

Footings and lower courses of a drystone wall and a turf and stone boundary bank marking the north and south boundaries of a former newtake granted in 1808. The former are visible between SX 6188 8986 and SX 6150 8890 on the Taw and in several lengths between SX 5948 8924 and SX 5993 9175 on the Blackaven Brook while the most notable stretch, still called 'Irishman's Wall' by the Ordnance Survey, lies between SX 6061 9210 and SX 6203 9185 on Belstone Tor.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX69SW78
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 894434
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX58NE/75
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX69SW/298

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BOUNDARY BANK (XVIII to XIX - 1750 AD (Between) to 1850 AD (Between))
• BOUNDARY WALL (XVIII to XIX - 1750 AD (Between) to 1850 AD (Between))

Full description

Untitled Source (Aerial Photograph). SDV274980.

Aph=003/v1/tpru/raf/2147/(25/12/1990)/in wyvern barracks, exeter. Bank visible on MOD 1990 aerial photograph (aph).

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

"track of old wall" marked on os 1:25000 (1984) map. The wall is clearly marked as a boundary on the 6" (1906) map extending from the river taw (see sx68nw/131) to the black-a-ven brook and then following the brook n (see subsheet) (os).

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map, 88NE (1906) (Cartographic). SDV325644.

Crossing, W., 1912 (1965), Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor, 205-206 (Monograph). SDV320981.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1993-1998, Dartmoor Royal Forest Project (Report - Survey). SDV346608.

(08/10/1993) Centred SX 6050 9050. A former newtake granted by the Prince of Wales to Richard and William Holmes in 1808 ( Duchy of Cornwall grant of 1240 acres to Richard and William Holmes, 1808). The grant of 1240 acres, 502ha, covered the area bounded by the River Taw from a point immediately east of Belstone Tor to a point immediately west of Steeperton Tor then directly west to the head of the Blackaven Brook and north along the brook to its confluence with the east Okement River. From this point the boundary ran almost due east to the Taw.
The grant stated that the area should be fenced and that within seven years two substantial farmhouses should be built on different parts of the ground. The enclosure does not appear to have been completed and only one of the farmhouses, possibly represented by East Okement farmhouse, may have been built.
The only apparent manifestations of this grant are the footings and lower courses of a drystone wall and a turf and stone boundary bank. The former are visible between SX 6188 8986 and SX 6150 8890 on the Taw and in several lengths between SX 5948 8924 and SX 5993 9175 on the Blackaven Brook while the most notable stretch, still called 'Irishman's Wall' by the Ordnance Survey, lies between SX 6061 9210 and SX 6203 9185 on Belstone Tor. The southern and south western boundaries are formed by a turf and stone bank between 2.5 and 4.0m wide and up to 1.6m high often with an external ditch averaging 2.2m wide and a maximum of 0.7m deep. Between SX 6081 8893 and SX 5933 8870 this bank is flanked by an unmetalled track used by the army.
There is no trace of any form of man made boundary between SX 5993 9175 and SX 6061 9210 a point east of Harter Hill and the western end of Irishman's wall.
The platform identified as a stamping mill by the Devon SMR at SX 6153 8890 in the south eastern corner of the enclosure though having the appearance of a building stance is likely to be the combination of streamworking scarps and the wall corner.
Part of the former newtake is now occupied by East Okement Farm though it is not certain whether this is one of the farmhouses mentioned in the grant as its antiquity is not known. The area covered by the grant is marked on a Duchy map of 1818 (Duchy of Cornwall 1818) ( Duchy of Cornwall Map of Enclosed Land on Dartmoor, 1818) but no subdivision or buildings are shown. The area is annotated as being under the auspices of "the Reverend", presumably Richard, "and William Homes".
Crossing (Guide, 1912, 205-206) states that the inhabitants of Belstone and Okehampton, on whose commons the enclosure was erected, waited until the work was nearly completed and then destroyed great lengths of wall after which the 'Irishman', who Crossing infers was behind the construction, apparently "evacuated his position".

Probert, S. A. J. + Newman, P., 2003-2004, Measured survey North Dartmoor Military Range Okehampton Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV350801.

(21/10/2003) The boundary walls and banks described in 1993 remain in a stable condition.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7620 - Okehampton Artillary Range
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8679 - Okehampton Range: Management Survey
• EDV8291 - Okehampton Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey
• EDV8695 - Survey of Okehampton North Dartmoor Military Range

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