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Summary

Mound with four points. Flat top. Probably recent fortification.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Prehistoric barrow east of Cleeve's Plantation

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SY19SW/13

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• EARTHWORK (Lower Palaeolithic to XXI - 698000 BC to 2009 AD (Between))

Full description

WORTH, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV6808.

Mound with four points. Flat top. Probably recent fortification (worth). Worth's plan is inaccurate (source unknown). Vis=21/10/1854 (hutchinson). Ref to a number of possible, star shaped barrows with probable modern ditches. Vis=12/11/1953 (os) the mound is rectangular.17m x 10m, and 1.7m high. Flat top and tree covered. No trace of barrow. The tda ref. Suggests the earthwork may have been constructed in 1820. Worth suggests this is a barrow whose form has been altered by scraping down the sides to make a zig-zag trench all round. The centre does not appear to have been touched. Fir trees were growing on it, and the operation may have been carried out when these were planted (worth). Vis=11/11/1975 (os). A sub-rectangualr ditched mound with in-curving sides lies on high ground in woodland. It is up to 22m by 20m with near vertical sides approx 1.4m high and it has an 0.4m deep ditch. It cannot be identified as a barrow and may be just a 19th century ornamental mound (os). Vis=9/3/1982 (os). A sub-rectangular flat-topped mound 22m x 20m, the sides concave and near vertical and 1.0m high. Enclosed by a ditch that could not have supplied the quantity of soil for its construction. Its prime situation on a long narrow ridge where at least a dozen other barrows existed supports hutchinson's view that it is a re-cut barrow. Vis=24/4/1982 (grinsell + l). As described above. Diameter 21m and height 104m.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV97339.

Worth, r. N. /tda/12(1880)125 fig/second report of the barrow committee.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV97341.

Osa=sy19sw4/plan.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV97342.

Grinsell, l. V. /pdas/41(1983)40.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV97343.

Hutchinson diary(10/10/1871).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV97344.

Hutchinson, p. O. /diary(21/10/1854).

Riley, H., 05/2012, Napoleonic Military Sites and a Prehistoric Ceremonial Monument on East Hill, Ottery St Mary (Report - Survey). SDV355832.

The monument consists of a mound which is roughly square with enlongated corners. The mound is surrounded by a ditch and a slight bank. The outer bank has been damaged by the car park to the south-west and by the road to the east. The top of the mound is flat and the mound constructed predominantly of earth and local flint. Several beeches and an oak tree grow on the edges of the mound; a tall Scots Pine grows on the south-east corner. The pine is probably one of those recorded on the 19th century maps and described by Hutchinson.

The redoubt is described as probably a recent fortification in the late 19th century in a report of the Barrow Committee (Hutchinson 1880, 125). In 1997 R.J Silvester suggested that the barrow may have been used for the base of the featue, but it (the barrow) had been totally redesigned, with the steep ditch sides suggesting a fairly modern construction. The OS Archaeology Division described the site as a sub-rectangular, flat-topped mound with concave sides and an enclosing ditch. The Investigator agreed with Hutchinson that the mound was a barrow, re-cut for ornamental pruposes.

Silvester, R. J., 1977, Earthwork (Worksheet). SDV97340.

Vis=12/11/1977 (silvester, r. ) a few metres from the roadside. Barrow may have been used for the base of the feature, but totally redesigned. Steepness of ditch sides suggests fairly modern construction. Broad-leafed trees sparsely dispersed.

Exeter Archaeology, 2003-2004, East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Archaeological Survey, Site No. 2325 (Archive - Survey). SDV351568.

Mound 21m diameter x 1m. Probable barrow landscaped in 19th century.
SMR.

Ordnance Survey, 2014, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV355681.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6374 - Survey of Three Earthworks on East Hill, Ottery St Mary

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