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Summary

Prehistoric chert rough-out for an axe or adze found at Quantis or Quant's near Stockland

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: ST20SW/4/2
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: ST20SW9

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FINDSPOT (Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 701 BC)

Full description

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

'Quant's Cottages' shown on 19th century map on the south side of the road just to the north of the boundary between Upottery and Stockland parishes.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

'Quant's Cottages' shown on early 20th century map.

Royal Albert Memorial Museum, 1958, Untitled Source (Record Office Collection). SDV112413.

Fox, A., 1961, Twenty-Fifth Report on the Archaeology and Early History of Devon, 169-70 (Article in Serial). SDV341693.

'Quantis' in Stockland near Honiton. One honey coloured chert adze. Long pear shaped, butt end wide, flattish and rounded. Pointed end fairly thick with edges less sharp. Both surfaces deeply convex. Very heavy and thick middle section. Found in the garden of 'Quantis'. Rough cut out for an axe or adze of coarse local chert.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1975, ST20SW9 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV112411.

Rough-out for a Neolithic or Bronze Age axe or adze of coarse chert found in the garden of 'Quantis'. It is 7.4 inches long by 3.6 inches wide at the base (18.8 centimetres by 9.14 centimetres) and tapering towards the butt.

Piper, N., 1981, An Investigation of Some Archaeological Features In and Around the Parish of Dalwood, 5, 33 (Un-published). SDV112611.

Griffith, F. M., 1994, Untitled Source (Personal Comment). SDV112412.

The identification of the findspot of this axe is unclear. Extensive inquiries have failed to find a house called 'Quantis'.

Richards, A., 2009, Untitled Source (Personal Comment). SDV341767.

'Quant's Cottages' are shown on the 19th and early 20th century maps and it is likely that the apostrophe was taken as an 'i'. The cottages are on the north side of the Stockland parish boundary in the parish of Upottery.

Foster, K. + Skinner, R., 2016, A30 to A303 Honiton to Devonshire Inn Improvement Scheme, Honiton, Devon (Report - Assessment). SDV359378.

DBA undertaken along a corridor associated with the A30/A303 between Honiton and Devonshire Inn. This study is intended to inform the development of options for improvements to the A30/A303 between Honiton and Devonshire Inn.

During the Neolithic there is evidence for the domestication of animals and cereal cultivation however due to a general lack of evidence for permanent settlement populations are considered to have still followed a largely nomadic lifestyle (Pollard et al, in Webster (Eds.) 2008). There is evidence across the Blackdown Hills for a Neolithic presence, particularly in the early Neolithic with finds of Neolithic tools and weapons known from across the region and two causewayed enclosures at Hembury Hillfort and Membury. In Britain the Neolithic is best known for the construction of large ceremonial or funerary monuments of various forms often set within broad monumental landscapes. Such monuments are conspicuously absent from the Blackdown Hills possibly suggesting that the area was sparsely settled or of little significance for Neolithic peoples. There are no known long barrows, chambered tombs or hengi-form monuments. Causewayed enclosures predated the later Iron Age hillforts at Hembury and Membury which are the only monumental Neolithic constructions currently known in the region. Both enclosures are of an early-Neolithic date with the enclosure at Hembury producing a considerable pottery assemblage.

Within the Site a single Neolithic find is recorded, a rough-out for an axe or adze made from local chert found in 1958 within a garden at the former Quant’s Cottage in Stockland. It is also possible that the flints discussed above are of a Neolithic date. The presence of such finds within the Site suggests a background presence during the Neolithic possibly consisting of seasonal occupation or hunting rather than extensive settlement. It is likely that the area’s resource of chert, a rock similar to flint that is easily found within the local soils, was an important local resource for making tools. As such specific tool-making sites are likely to have existed within the area. There is no evidence for any extensive tool making sites within the Site and any such sites would be very sensitive to subsequent environmental changes and could easily have been lost.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV2165 - HANDAXE (Early Neolithic to Unknown - 4000 BC)
• FDV573 - HANDAXE (Early Neolithic to Early Iron Age - 3800 BC to 700 BC)

Associated Events

• EDV6910 - Desk Based Assessment, A30/A303 Honiton to Devonshire Inn Improvement Scheme, Honiton, Devon (Ref: 111160.01)

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