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Summary

Ditsworthy Warren an important rabbit warren containing over 50 pillow mounds and a number of vermin traps. Records of this warren date from 1676 until 1947. It may be mentioned as 'Durkesworthi' in the 15th century. This site is included in the local list of Nationally Important Dartmoor sites.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Medieval landscape at Gutter Tor and Eastern Tor comprising Ditsworthy Warren with numerous pillow mounds, a field system and deserted settlement site and sub-circular enclosure containing ridge and furrow, Bronze Age hut circle sites and a cairn

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56NE111
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 438818
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/416
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/460
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/88

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• RABBIT WARREN (XVII to Mid 20th Century - 1676 AD to 1947 AD (Between))

Full description

Haynes, R. G., Ditsworthy Warren (Un-published). SDV346275.

Gover, J. E. B. + Mawer, A. + Stenton, F. M., 1931, The Place-Names of Devon: Part One, 239 (Monograph). SDV1312.

Ditsworthy Warren may be the 'Durkesworth(y)' mentioned in 1474. It was mentioned again in 1481 as 'Durkysworthi'.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/106G/UK/1190, 4261 (Aerial Photograph). SDV340833.

Royal Air Force, 1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2494, 4130-31 (Aerial Photograph). SDV147533.

Many pillow mounds visible over a wide area centred at SX 582664.

Royal Air Force, 1953, 58/1110, 0038 (Aerial Photograph). SDV157241.

Ordnance Survey, 1953-1969, 1953-1969 National Grid OS A edition imperial, (1962) (Cartographic). SDV352727.

(SX 58406627) Ditsworthy Warren House (NAT).

Linehan, C. D., 1966, Deserted Sites and Rabbit-Warrens on Dartmoor, Devon, 139-143, Table 2 (Article in Serial). SDV307246.

SX 584663. Ditsworthy Warren, Sheepstor, containing 21 pillow mounds, some revetted with stone work. Site recently abandoned.

Haynes, R. G., 1970, Vermin Traps and Rabbit Warrens on Dartmoor, 160 (Article in Serial). SDV166302.

Ditsworthy Warren House (SX56NE/7). The warren now consists of about 1100 acres. But originally probably only of 230 acres, the remainder being added in the mid 19th century. It ceased to operate as a warren in the 1930s. The warren is well-equipped with buries and has 14 vermin traps, 2 of which are almost complete.
Ditsworthy Warren. A small warren of 220 acres (Tithe Map 1844). Bounded on the south by the Plym; on the west by a long wall from the Legis Tor Warren boundary to Sheepstor Brook at Burrcombe Gate. The eastern boundary down to the Plym is problematical but is believed Sheepstor Brook upstream for a little distance then east to the ridge of Eastern Tor then following a line of unmarked boundary stones to Drizzlecombe Brook and the Plym.
After the abandonment of Eylesborough mine about 1853, Ditsworthy took in the whole of this area to Eylesborough and Evilcombe on the Plym, and much later still took control of Legis Tor Warren, making its area more than 1 000 acres. The Warren House, finally abandoned in 1947, is said to be 16th century and may well have been built on the site of a previous house (The original Ditsworthy Farm?). The building has been added to at some fairly recent period, and in that addition and in various outhouses attached.
Dressed stones from Vermin Traps have been included. A field system lies south of the house, bearing the names taken from the Tithe Map of 1844. The field immediately east of the house is the Kennel Court in which were kept the warren dogs, a necessarily large number, which sheltered in three stone kennels in the depths of the walls. The walls of this court are at least six feet high, having large flat stones at the top corbelled inwards, preventing the escape of dogs by leaping. Latterly the warrener supplemented his income by breeding and training sporting dogs.
Warren remains are numerous, including 52 buries and walls converted to buries, and fifteen Vermin Traps. Everywhere the warreners have dug ditches to drain and keep dry hill slopes and bury areas.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1977, SX56NE111 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV254566.

(20/06/1977) Ditsworthy Warren covers an area of approximately 1.0 square kilometre, centred at SX 582 664, and incorporates some fifty-three pillow mounds. Their average length is 16.0m, if eleven exceptionally long ones are excluded, their width 7.2m, and height 1.0m. The longest is 165.0m by 4.0m by 1.3m. Only one is clearly revetted (SX 5810 6645). Four others, such as the long one at SX 5865 6650, have been constructed by utilizing a length of old boundary bank
and ditching along one or both sides. Most of the mounds are aligned with the natural slopes, between 290m and 340m OD, and are in good condition, but their traditional form preludes close
dating. Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD
The Warren House, leased by the Admiralty, is occasionally used as a 'hostel' but retains its old name. Externally it appears to be entirely of 19th century construction.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

Recorded in aerial photograph project.

Rendell, P., 1989, Ditsworthy Warren, 65 (Article in Serial). SDV361688.

Ditsworthy Warren was established by the 1750's. In 1780 it covered 230 acres increasing to 1000 acres in the mid 19th century. The closure of the warren was between 1930-1954 when myxomatosis took hold of the rabbit population.

Robertson, J. G., 1991, The Archaeology of the Upper Plym (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV166324.

Extensive documentary reasearch into the history of the Warren.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, Map 49 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Depicted on map by Butler. Other details: Map 49.

Griffiths, D. M., 1996, Ditsworthy Warren (Personal Comment). SDV346274.

Haynes' grid references are sometimes unreliable. There are therefore probably more recorded on the Sites and Monument Record than exist in fact.

Unknown, 1996, Untitled Source (Unattributed Sites and Monuments Register Entry). SDV254559.

Vermin traps:- SX56NE/88-92; SX56NE/93/1; SX56NE/96-99; SX56SE/65/2; SX56NE/250-259 pillow mounds:- SX56NE/149.

Fletcher, M. + Newman, P. + Probert, S., 1999, Drizzlecombe, Eylesbarrow, Ditsworthy and Hartor areas in the Plym Valley, West Devon, 6-8 (Report - Survey). SDV346268.

(03/08/1999) Records regarding Ditsworthy as a warren date back to 1676, when Sir Nicholas Slanning leased the holding to Edward Meade who was described as a Warrener. Meade held the land until 1719 when it transferred to William Nicholls who also held Legis Tor Warren. Apart from a break between 1782 and 1800, the Nicholls family remained tenants at Ditsworthy until 1830 when the land passed to Nicholas Ware who leased the holding until the end of warrening in 1947.
The bounds of Ditsworthy Warren are described by Linehan in 1966 as following the long wall north from Legis Tor Warren to Burcombe Gate then south-east along the Sheepstor Brook to the saddle between Whittenknowles Rocks and Eastern Tor. Between the ridge and the Drizzlecombe Brook are two possible courses one of which is represented by a number of unmarked upright granite posts.
Within the warren are a total of 54 pillow mounds, the vast majority of which are orientated with their long axes cutting the contours and well-defined drainage ditches around their upper ends and flanking their long sides. The mounds vary in length from 6.5 meters to 35.0 meters but are generally around 7.5 – 8.0 meters in width and around 1.3 meters in height. Most mounds have rounded ends and flat tops and apart from one exception they are built from soil on a base of large stones. North-west of Ditsworthy farmhouse are two mounds only 3.0 meters apart, the eastern of which has stone revetted sides and a turf cap as well as not possessing a drainage ditch.
Four pillow mounds were also constructed within the workings of the former Eylesbarrow Mine after 1859, when Ditsworthy land was increased to take over the holding of the mine company. These mounds have stone bases with soil or turf caps and square ends, ranging in length from 12.5 – 19.0 meters, 4.8 - 5.7 meters in width and are generally 1.2 meters high.
Eight vermin traps were recorded in the Ditsworthy area, mostly consisting of in-situ trap boxes and /or funnel walls, the best-preserved examples consisting of stone-lined channels that formally contained an operating catch which triggered a mechanism to seal the tunnel with shutters sliding in grooves at the trap ends.
Elaborate kennels were constructed adjacent to Ditsworthy farmhouse to house the dogs used by the warreners.

Whitbourn, A., 2001, An Archaeological Investigation into features comprising, and associated with, Ditsworthy Warren, 10-92, Map 5 (Report - Assessment). SDV360381.

Ditsworthy Warren was in use for at least 200 years. Rabbit warrening provided meat and fur and was often associated with the tin indutry. The boundaries of the warren seem to have changed during its occupation. Seventeen pillow mounds were compared during the survey with eight being within enclosures and six close to a Bronze Age pound which may have been built using stone form the earlier pound. The warren originally consisted of 230 acres and was extended to 1100 acres in the mid 19th century. It was last used in the 1930s. There were possibly 53 pillow mounds of between 16 - 105 metres long including 4 incorporated into the old boundary bank. 21 of the pillow mounds included revetted stone work. 14 vermin traps were identified within the warren.

Gerrard, S., 2004, List of Sites Remaining to be Considered for Designation on Dartmoor (Un-published). SDV345444.

This site was considered for designation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument during the Monument Protection Programme. The programme ended before the entire list of sites was successfully scheduled so this is included on a local list of Nationally Important Sites.

Newman, P. + Probert, S., 2005, Ringmoor Training Area: Monument Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV363484.

(11/03/2005) The pillow mounds and field boundaries of Dittsworthy Warren remain as described by English Heritage (1999). They appear to be in a good and stable condition.

National Monuments Record, 2011, 438818 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV346276.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4966 - Survey of Drizzlecombe, Eylesbarrow, Ditsworthy and Hartor. The Eylesbarrow archaeological landscape
• EDV7443 - Condition survey of archaeological sites in Ringmoor Training Area
• EDV7551 - Ditsworthy Warren: An archaeological investigation
• EDV7569 - Condition survey of Ringmoor Down training area
• EDV8155 - Plym Valley Survey
• EDV8227 - Ringmoor Training Area: Monument Baseline Condition Survey

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