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Summary

Small Iron Age enclosure with ditch.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Iron Age ring work north of Lee House

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS53NW/3

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSURE (Lower Palaeolithic to Late Medieval - 698000 BC to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

FOX, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV4034.

A small iron age ring-work. Discovered in lee wood on the 400ft. Contour but well below the highest point on the ridge. A modern ride bisects the enclosure from w to e and probably passes through the original entrance on the e and upper side (fox).

1960, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV84014.

No earthworks shown in lee wood on os 1:2500 (1960).

RCHME, Untitled Source (Report - Survey). SDV84015.

Vis=-/-/1989 (rchme) circular enclosure, entrance on eastern side. Surveyed at 1:2500.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV84017.

Fox, a. /tda/95(1963)80/27th. Report on archaeology and early history.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV84018.

Osa=ss53nw11.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV84019.

Grinsell, l. V. /archaeology of exmoor/(1970)81,202.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV84020.

Des=letter from j. Longhurst to s. Pearce(25/8/1978)/in parish file.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV84021.

Des=survey drawing by rchme(1989)/in parish file.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV84022.

Des=walls, t. /earthwork enclosures in ne devon and their late prehistoric landscape/(2000)/copy in smr.

IN PARISH FILE, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV245918.

Grinsell lists as medieval. Letter (25/8/1978) from j. Longhurst describes an early iron age site at ss535373 which may be the same or may not (in parish file).

Walls, T., 2000, A Prehistoric Defensive Enclosure in Berrynarbor, North Devon (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV85968.

Small enclosure with ditch surviving best on e (uphill) side. On downhill side (sw) it is more of a berm. The enclosure was discovered in c.1962, at which time it was in woodland, which has now been cleared and the ground ploughed (walls).

Dean, R. + Edwards, M., 2018, Chapel Farm, Marwood, Barnstaple, Devon: Geophysical Survey (Report - Geophysical Survey). SDV361958.

This report presents the results of an archaeological geophysical survey at Chapel Farm, Marwood, Barnstaple. The survey was commissioned by Devon County Council and was designed to further understand the archaeological potential of a small iron age enclosure.

Two anomaly groups (4 and 5) are likely to represent the ditch of the enclosure that is the main target of this survey. There is a gap in the anomaly pattern representing the ditch on its south-western side that does not correspond to any gap in the enclosure earthworks recorded on a Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) map of the monument (RCHME, 1989). One group (6) may reflect a stony deposit in this gap. It may reflect either the surface of an original gap in the enclosure ditch or a later in-filling of the ditch. A gap shown in the RCHME earthworks map on the enclosure’s eastern side is not reflected by the geophysical survey data which shows the anomaly group representing the enclosure ditch as continuous at this point. The questions raised about which, if either, of the gaps is an original entrance can only be resolved through archaeological excavation.

The anomaly groups representing the enclosure ditch do not coincide exactly with the earthworks of the enclosure as epicted on the RCHME earthworks survey (ibid) but it is thought that the earthworks survey and this geophysical survey depict the same feature, rather than two distinct phases of enclosure, and that the geophysical data is likely to be more positionally accurate as it made use of later GPS technology and was not hampered by the presence of woodland. Moreover, the RCHME earthworks map records a relatively low set of earthworks and are bound to reflect slumping of the banks and other depreciation of the monument over time.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7654 - Geophysical Survey: Land at Chapel Farm, Marwood, Barnstaple, Devon (Ref: 1802CHA-R-2)

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