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Summary

Huntsham Castle Iron Age hillfort or non-defensive enclosure on the boundary between Huntsham and Tiverton parishes

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019539: Huntsham Castle
• SHINE: Huntsham Castle. Iron Age hillfort or enclosure south of Huntsham Castle Farm

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 36419
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS91NE/2
• Old SAM County Ref: 303
• Old SAM Ref: 34253
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SS91NE1

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HILLFORT (Iron Age - 700 BC to 42 AD (Between))

Full description

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

'Huntsham Castle (Camp)' shown on 19th century map.

Wall, J. C., 1906, Ancient Earthworks, 611-2 (Article in Monograph). SDV341465.

A camp surrounded by a 2.4 metre high vallum, has an intruded entrance to the north-east. Other details: Plan.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1951 - 1977, SS91NE1 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV345473.

A small non-defensive Iron Age enclosure consisting of a bank and shallow ditch. A gap in the west is probably original.

Ministry of Works, 1953, Huntsham Castle (Schedule Document). SDV345472.

Huntsham Castle an Iron Age hill-fort. Single rampart and ditch measuring 15.25 metres overall and one rampart approximately 8 metres on the scarp. There is an entrance on the east side, and possibly another which has been modernised when a farm road was made on the west. The defences have been damaged a little by two small quarries, and the bank ploughed down in parts. Condition otherwise good . The inturned entrance shown on the Ordnance Survey map is a quarry, the ancient gap is immediately to the south of it.

Hoskins, W. G., 1954, A New Survey of England: Devon, 414 (Monograph). SDV17562.

Cambridge University, 1966, CUC/ANN, 1-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDV345479.

Other details: CUC/ANN 2 in HER.

National Monuments Record, 1977, SS9917/1, 250 (Aerial Photograph). SDV345477.

Other details: In HER.

National Monuments Record, 1979, SF 1508, 94 (Aerial Photograph). SDV345478.

Other details: In HER.

Weston, S., 1983, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1983 (Un-published). SDV343247.

Griffith, F. M., 1986, DAP/GZ, 6-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDV345480.

Griffith, F. M., 1990, DAP/QQ, 14-15 (Aerial Photograph). SDV344340.

Plummer, M. + Plummer, A., 1993, Untitled Source (Worksheet). SDV345469.

Some cattle attrition, notably in the south-west area inside the rampart. Also some damage to the parish boundary bank that cuts the site. Tree growth in area of former quarrying.

Fox, A., 1996, Prehistoric Hillforts in Devon, 40 (Monograph). SDV7958.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2001, Huntsham Castle (Schedule Document). SDV345475.

Huntsham Castle is a slight univallate hillfort surviving as a sub-circular enclosure, defining an area which slopes gently down to the south and measures approximately 150 metres in diameter. It is clearly demarcated on all sides by a rampart which varies in height from 1 metre up to 2.4 metres internally, being generally of greater height on the northern side of the enclosure. Externally this rampart is up to 2.9 metres high. Surrounding the rampart is an outer ditch which measures up to 5.4 metres wide and 0.4 metres deep and this is visible on all sides of the monument, although it is predominantly preserved as a buried feature. On the north-east side, the outer edge of this ditch is defined by a field boundary bank and the infilled ditch has been used in the past as a track. There is an inturned entrance on the north-east side which measures 7 metres wide, and the inturned banks are up to 2.2 metres wide and 0.4 metres high. The enclosure is crossed by a parish boundary bank which measures up to 2 metres wide and 1.5 metres high, and has been partially cut at the north-east corner by a quarry, approximately 20 metres long, 15 metres wide and up to 2.8 metres deep, which lies to the north of the entrance. A further quarry lies to the south of the parish boundary bank, on the west side of the enclosure and measures 8.7 metres long, 5.3 metres wide and up to 1 metre deep. A third quarry lies to the north-west and has partially cut into the ditch and rampart on this side; however, much of this quarry lies just beyond the monument itself. A further entrance to the enclosure may lie on the west side, where the rampart is seen to kink slightly inwards.
The stock proof fences around the rampart and ditch, the gates and gateposts which facilitate access, the Ordnance Survey triangulationpoint which is situated on the north eastern side of the enclosure just above the quarry, and the field boundary bank which defines the outer edge of the ditch in the north eastern corner are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath all these features is included.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2002, Untitled Source (Correspondence). SDV345476.

Scheduled Monument Consent granted, subject to conditions, for works concerning new fencing, restoration of an earthen bank and relocation of a gate.

National Monuments Record, 2010, 36419 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV345474.

Huntsham Castle is a small non-defensive Iron Age enclosure. It consists of a bank and shallow ditch. A gap in the west is probably original.

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

'Huntsham Castle Enclosure' shown on modern mapping on the border beween Huntsham and Tiverton parishes

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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