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Summary

Sub-circular slight univallate hillfort, divided into two parts by the Dartmouth to Halwell road which passes through it from east to west. May have been re-used as a Saxon Burh.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019237: Hillfort and two bowl barrows at Halwell Camp
• SHINE: Archaeological features associated with a prehistoric field system, south of Halwell Camp

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX75SE/8
• Old SAM County Ref: 6
• Old SAM Ref: 33745
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX75SE11
• Royal Albert Memorial Museum Accession Number: EXE 183/1975/64
• Royal Albert Memorial Museum Accession Number: EXE 183/1975/64
• Royal Albert Memorial Museum Accession Number: EXE 183/1975/64
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HILLFORT (Early Iron Age - 700 BC to 301 BC (Between))

Full description

Woollcombe, H., 1839-1850, Woollcombe Manuscript (Un-published). SDV16214.

Approximately oval shape damaged on west by Dartmouth road and cultivation. East rampart circa 20 foot (6.1 metres) outer slope. Plan in maunscript.

Elliott, E. A. S., 1901, On Some Earthworks in the South Hams Probably Concerned in the Irishmen's Raid, 475-83 (Article in Serial). SDV321206.

Halwell Camp may be Saxon. Three huge mounds outside the camp, rampart and semi-circular ditch. Tumulus.

Wall, J. C., 1906, Ancient Earthworks, 605-6 (Article in Monograph). SDV341465.

Other details: Plan and Section.

Office of Works, 1922, Halwell Camp (or Castle) (Schedule Document). SDV342017.

A round earthwork apparently never of any great strength, cut through by the main road from Modbury to Dartmouth. On the north side of the road the vallum is clear and well marked. On the south side follows the line of the hedge bank, though ploughed down. Entrance due north.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1952 - 1980, SX75SE11 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV342020.

Early Iron Age hill fort with an outer ditch and a bank 5 foot 6 inches (1.67 metres) high, ploughed but traceable on the south side. Entrance doubtful and probably the road runs through it although a gap on the north side is a possible entrance.
Visited on 14th December 1961. Ground slopes away to the west and north but nowhere are the slopes steep enough to offer a natural defence of any strength. The earthwork consists of a single bank with unsurveyable traces of an outer ditch. Throughout the northern half the bank is prominent and is now utilized as a field boundary. The south west quadrant has been completely destroyed and the south east quadrant survives as a very spread and ploughed down bank.
The situation and construction suggest a small univallate Iron Age Hill Fort.
Halwell is a possible site for a fort if the Burghal Hidage circa 918AD

Hoskins, W. G., 1954, A New Survey of England: Devon, 104,402 (Monograph). SDV17562.

Hill, D., 1969, The Burghal Hidage, 87,91 (Article in Serial). SDV339210.

Halwell is one of the forts of the Burghal Hidage, replaced by Totnes in the reign of Athelstan. As yet there is no sign of Saxon occupation at Halwell.

Unknown, 1975, EXE 183/1975/64 (Record Office Collection). SDV342034.

Small tin box of 6 flints. Part of the Stone Collection at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter. Location noted as 'Hawell Camp' presumably referring to 'Halwell Camp'. No precise location. Box includes 1 thumb end/side scraper, 1 end scraper and 4 small flakes with retouched edges.

Wilson, D., 1976, Untitled Source, 127,131,137 (Monograph). SDV342023.

Halwell was a re-used Iron Age fort in the Saxon period.

Grinsell, L. V., 1977, Grimspound (Personal Comment). SDV342019.

Visited on 10th December 1977. Halwell Camp, split by the road. Northern part is under grass and has a well preserved rampart and outer ditch. Iron Age or Early Christian. The earthwork or Stanborough may have been 'burh' before it was moved to Totnes.

Timms, S. C., 1978, Untitled Source (Worksheet). SDV342024.

Site badly affected by agriculture, all parts being ploughed except the quadrant occupied by the farmyard. Other details: Plan.

Robinson, R., 1984, Field Monument Warden Visit (Personal Comment). SDV112440.

Visited on 13th April 1984. Other details: Slides in HER.

Griffith, F. M., 1985, DAP/FE, 11-11a (Aerial Photograph). SDV47324.

Griffith, F. M., 1990, Untitled Source (Personal Comment). SDV342025.

Condition generally stable. The south-east quadrant is under grass with sheep. The bank is still quite apparent as a low rise in this quadrant, but the interior here is disfigured with dumps of hardcore etc. Hardcore has also been laid on part of the ground, which is serving to reduce the likelihood of further damage, and a strip 5 metres wide along the eastern side of the hedge running south from the farm is also metalled.

Slater, T. R., 1991, Controlling the South Hams: The Anglo-Saxon burh at Halwell, 57-8 (Article in Serial). SDV155659.

The Victoria County History notes the rampart standing at 6 feet (1.83 metres) above the interior and 10 foot (3.05 metres) above exterior ground level at a point on the best preserved, western side. Suggested entrance on north side. Tithe Map shows no breaks in the circuit to the south of the road. Other details: Figures 1-5.

Griffith, F. M., 1996, DAP/AAJ (Aerial Photograph). SDV342028.

Fox, A., 1996, Prehistoric Hillforts in Devon, 35 (Monograph). SDV7958.

Harvey, P. L., 2000, An Earthwork Survey of Halwell Camp, Halwell (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV342027.

Earthwork survey which supported an Early Iron Age date but no firm evidence for Halwell being the site of an Anglo-Saxon Burh was found. Study of air photographs indicated possible archaeological remains in the field to the southwest of the hillfort.

Horner, W. S., 2000, Halwell Camp, SAM Devon 6 (Correspondence). SDV351428.

Notification of Scheduled Ancient Monument infringement. Portion of camp currently in use as a works compound by South West Water contractors and has apparently had material dumped on it to raise ground levels.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2000, Hillfort and Two Bowl Barrows at Halwell Camp (Schedule Document). SDV342026.

Sub-circular slight univallate hillfort, divided into two parts by the Dartmouth to Halwell road which passes through it from east to west. North of the road, the hillfort's rampart survives in good condition. It rises steeply to a minimum of 1 metre from the interior, the highest point being 2 metres in the northwest corner, and falls abruptly 2 metres to 3 metres into the traces of an external ditch. The width of this ditch varies from 9 metres on the north-west side to 13 metres on the east. 3 clear entrances are visible, to the north, east and west. None of these appear original, as all climb the rampart to some extent. An oblique cut across the rampart in the north-east corner represents a fourth entrance, but this is very recent. Along the east side, a hedgebank runs along the top of the rampart. To the south of the road, the south-east quadrant has been levelled by ploughing. The rampart here is visible only as a 0.2 metre rise in ground level, while the ditch is about 0.1 metres deep. This deepens to about 0.2 metres on the east side where it passes beneath the roadside hedgebank. The south-east quadrant is better preserved with the rampart surviving within a hedgebank. This rises 1 metre from the fort's interior. On the outside edge, the rampart rises from the traces of an external ditch 1.8 metres deep on the south side and about 1.3 metres deep on the west side. The ditch here is largely levelled by ploughing but is visible to about 0.2 metres deep. Within the roadside hedgebanks and on the verges, further remains of the ramparts survive. On the south verge on the west side of the fort, the rampart has been reduced in height, but the ditch survives to about 1.5 metres deep and 25 metres wide. North of this, a bank isolated when the road was straightened in the 1940's, preserves a fragment of rampart about 2 metres long. This rises about 0.7 metres from the interior and falls about 1.5 metres to the former ditch. A field gate in the hedgebank to the north of the road is in the position of the outer ditch.

Fletcher, M., 2001, Halwell Camp, Bickleigh, Brake Barrow Group and the Boreston Catchwater System: Survey Report (Report - Survey). SDV339227.

Halwell Camp at 178 metres was surveyed by at 1:1000 in December 2001. Identified as a circa 550BC Iron Age hillfort or ditched enclosure of 12.5 metres diam. The weatherworn rampart is composed of soil and small stones surviving to a maximum of 2.6 metres externally and 1.6 metres internally. The northest and southwest quadrants have been refashioned to form field hedges circa 1.7 metres high by up to 4 metres wide with some stone facing. The ditch of the southeast quadrant has been completely infilled but vestiges of rampart and ditch are preserved in the roadside verges. The north side of the enclosure is a regularly ploughed level plot while the south side is partly occupied by a barn and outbuildings and is surfaced with a spread of imported hardcore.

Freeman, J., 2006, Archaeological Monitoring of Topsoil Stripping at South Hams Flying Club, Halwell, Devon (Report - Watching Brief). SDV343961.

No archaeological features or significant deposits were revealed during topsoil stripping to south of Halwell Camp.

Austin, J., 2008, Monitoring and Recording during the Widening of the A3122 between Halwell Cross and Halwell Business Park (Report - Watching Brief). SDV342029.

No features or artefacts of archaeological significance were recovered from the road widening to the southwest of the hillfort.

English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009: South West, 107 (Report - non-specific). SDV342694.

Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems. Principal vulnerability dumping.

Wessex Archaeology, 2010, Halwell Cross to Forces Cross Gas Pipeline, Dartmouth, Devon: Archaeological Watching Brief Report, 2 (Report - Watching Brief). SDV347442.

Other details: Map.

English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010: South West, 100 (Report - non-specific). SDV344777.

English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011: South West, 105 (Report - non-specific). SDV355280.

Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems. Improving. Principal vulnerability dumping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV1320 - FLAKE (Middle Palaeolithic to Early Iron Age - 99999 BC to 700 BC)
• FDV1319 - SCRAPER (TOOL) (Middle Palaeolithic to Early Iron Age - 99999 BC to 700 BC)

Associated Events

• EDV4466 - Watching Brief to the southwest of Halwell Camp
• EDV4569 - Archaeological Monitoring of Topsoil Stripping at South Hams Flying Club, Halwell, Devon
• EDV5115 - Watching Brief on Halwell Cross to Forces Cross Gas Pipeline

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