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Summary

Earthworks of the deserted medieval settlement of Beere survive in Stoneland Copse

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1016216: Medieval settlement of Beere
• SHINE: Deserted medieval settlement and manorial enclosure south west of Ten Acre Down Copse

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS60SE/4
• Old SAM County Ref: 508
• Old SAM Ref: 30320
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SS60SE13

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• DESERTED SETTLEMENT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

National Monuments Record, SS6903 (Aerial Photograph). SDV345346.

Reichel, O. J., 1897, The Domesday Hundreds of Devon: Part 3. The Hundred of North Tawton, 244 (Article in Serial). SDV337560.

Reference in the hundred rolls of Edward I to Randolph de Byr in 1274.

Williams, H. F. F., 1954, North Tawton: A Devon Market Town, 116 (Article in Serial). SDV224896.

The Domesday manor of Beira was held, in 1086, by Osborne, Bishop of Bec, Normandy.

Jope, E. M. + Threlfall, R. I., 1958, Excavation of a Medieval Settlement at Beere, North Tawton, Devon, 112-140 (Article in Serial). SDV345347.

Other details: Plan. Map object based on this Source.

Ministry of Works, 1961, Site of Deserted Village of Beere (Schedule Document). SDV345349.

Earthworks of a deserted village comprising upstanding walls of houses and corn-drying kilns in Stoneland Copse and wood to west of road north of stream. There are partly levelled earthworks of several houses and a small castle or fortified manor site to the north in the grass field. One house site and two corn-drying kilns were excavated by E.M. Jope in 1938-9. This was the first time that a long house with the classic three room plan was recognised in a non-pastoral area in this country.

Beresford, M., 1963, Untitled Source, 41 (Monograph). SDV345345.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1971 - 1982, SS60SE13 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV345344.

Site visit 20th June 1971. Little of any significance can now be seen. Jope's small manorial earthwork, house, barn and corn-drying kiln have all been erased by war-time ploughing.

Hall, J. + Hamlin, A., 1976, Deserted Medieval Settlements in Devon, 5 (Article in Serial). SDV38836.

Sizeable straggling village along stream. Best preserved part in coppice, rest largely levelled by agriculture.

Weston, S., 1982, Untitled Source (Correspondence). SDV345348.

Site visit July/August.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 1997, Medieval Settlement of Beere (Schedule Document). SDV345350.

The monument includes the remains of a medieval settlement known as Beere lying to the north of North Tawton. The site is situated at the base of a valley, on the northern bank of a tributary to the River Yeo in an area covered with woodland and known as Stoneland Copse. At the eastern end of Stoneland Copse, above the course of the stream is a terraced bank which runs from east to west parallel to the stream, and which joins a field boundary running upslope to the eastern end of the site. This bank measures up to 1.7 metres wide and 2.1 metres high on the stream side and 0.6 metres high on the north or settlement side. To the north of this field boundary is a hollow way which measures 1.3 metres wide, 0.1 metres deep and runs parallel to the field boundary along the base of the settlement.
Further north is a terraced platform which measures 6.1 metres wide and 0.4 metres high; it runs from east to west throughout the length of the copse. To the north of this terraced platform and at its eastern end there are a series of significant banks which indicate several tumbled walls. O ne feature is a part hut, barn or house, the southernmost wall of which curves out from the eastern field boundary in a westerly direction. This bank measures 3.8 metres wide and 0.8 metres to 1.2 metres high. It serves to define an inner area which measures 18 metres long by 14.4 metres wide. To the north, the building may be buried by naturally slumped material from a steep scarp which measures between 3 metres and 4 metres high. On the top of this scarp is a ditched field boundary which measures 0.6 metres wide and 0.4 metres high and appears to be an old boundary.
Within the building at its western side there is evidence for a secondary structure which measures 6.6 metres long by 5.6 metres wide internally and is enclosed by banks which measure 1.4 metres wide and 0.5 metres high. There are two possible coarsed stone built drying ovens or hearths each of which measure 2.1 metres long, 1 metre wide and 0.3 metres deep.
Central to the site is a massively built rectangular structure composed of stony banks and set into the platform which runs across the site. The structure measures 5.3 metres long from north to south and 3.9 metres wide from east to west. The banks measure up to 0.4 metres high internally and up to 1metre high externally. To the north a hollow way runs from east to west parallel to the northern boundary, although the scarp on which this is sitting reduces in height towards the west. The hollow way measures 3.4 metres wide and up to 0.2 metres deep and runs from the building at the eastern end of the site to a quarry at the western end. This quarry is subrectangular in shape and measures 11.7 metres long and 8.4 metres wide overall. It is enclosed by banks and to the south these measure up to 2.8 metres wide and 1.2 metres high. To the north there is some coarsed walling which measures up to 0.7 metres wide and 0.5 metres high. In the western end of the feature there is a deeper pit which measures 4.4 metres long, 3.5 metres wide and up to 1.3 metres deep. This may be the quarry from which stone to construct the buildings was derived. At the western end of the site the ground surface appears levelled and may indicate an area used for horticultural purposes in the past. On the western side the monument is also defined by a ditched field boundary. The site was partly excavated in 1938.

Ordnance Survey, 2010, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV344030.

Map object based on this Source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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