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Summary

Former dog kennels on Oxford Down, to the west of Castle Hill, built circa 1720. The original buildings appear to have been replaced by a range of buildings around a courtyard in the late 19th century.

Location

Protected Status

• Registered Park or Garden (I) 1000120: CASTLE HILL

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• KENNELS (XVIII - 1701 AD to 1800 AD)

Full description

Devon County Council, 1838-1848, Tithe Mosaic, approximately 1838-1848 (Cartographic). SDV349431.

Two adjacent rectangular enclosures forming a 'T' shape are shown on the south-east side of Oxford Down, to the west of Castle Hill. Both contain rectangular buildings and are marked 'Dog Kennel'. Map object based on this source.

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

A single rectangular enclosure is shown, with buildings around central three sides, forming a central courtyard.

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

A 'U' shaped range of buildings shown, some possibly open fronted, arranged around central courtyard.

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

Long rectangular building on north side is visible, trees obscure rest of the site.

Swete, J. (ed. Gray T. + Rowe, M.), 1997, Travels in Georgian Devon. The Illustrated Journals of the Reverend John Swete. Vol. 1, 45 (Monograph). SDV341166.

Revd Swete rode through the grounds of Castle Hill in 1792. He refers to kennels as surrounded by quadrangular walls, built on the 'beautiful' slope of a hill.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

Small square building in south-east corner visible. In same location as part of 'U' shaped building shown on historic mapping. Map object based on this Source.

Sturley, M., 2013, The Kennels, Castle Hill, Filleigh (Correspondence). SDV352638.

Proposals to rebuild part of a façade of a building structure referred to as the Kennels, built circa 1720 on Oxford Down to the west of the main house. Possibly footings remaining and some fallen material. Marked on the tithe map as 'Dog Kennel'. Map of location and illustration of original façade attached.

Hosegood, V., 2015, Castle Hill Kennels, Filleigh, North Devon (Report - Watching Brief). SDV359687.

Building recording and evaluative trenching undertaken at the former Kennels site in the parkland at Castle Hill, in advance of the construction of a new castellated folly designed to mimic one that had formerly stood on or close to the site.
The former kennels are located on Oxford Down, to the west of the main house. The original building was a castellated folly built as an eye-catcher within the grounds of Castle Hill. What remains is a rectangular walled enclosure 31.4m across by 20.65m wide, with the walls of a later structure built into the south-east angle. The cartographic sources (Figure 4) indicate these walls belonged to a yard associated with the folly rather than the folly itself; the folly structure shown in Figure 3 was actually located beyond the enclosure to the south-east. The building material and style of the castellated kennels is similar to that used in the construction of the triumphal arch situated half a mile to the south of the main house. This arch was built in 1731 in the period where much of the landscape surrounding the main house was set out (1730-1751). On that basis it is assumed the kennels formed part of the early 18th century designed landscape. It is unclear whether the surviving enclosure is a later addition. The ‘old kennels’ on Oxford Down “were pulled down, with the exception of the upper part, which had long been used as a cattle shed and yard” in 1878 (family diary quoted in J Rhind 2013). The 1st and 2nd edition Ordnance Survey maps show the surviving enclosure lined with structures; these are likely to have been open-fronted mono-pitch lean-tos, although the evaluation trenches (see below) did identify the footings of an internal stone wall.
The only finds identified on site were a surprising amount of terracotta pantile, within both trenches and visible on the surface across the interior. These tiles may have been used as coping for the walls, or relate to the later structure in the south-east corner of the enclosure.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV6279 - PANTILE (XVII to XIX - 1601 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Events

• EDV7013 - Building Recording and Monitoring and Recording, Castle Hill Kennels, Filleigh (Ref: 150729)

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