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| HER Number: | MDV6900 |
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| Name: | Saxon fortified farm at Halstock |
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Summary
This site was thought by Worth to have been a Saxon fortified farm ('stockades'), replacing the Iron Age camp on the other side of Moor Brook as a defended settlement site. Later adapted further as a farm, when the need for defence had reduced.
Location
| Grid Reference: | SX 601 936 |
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| Map Sheet: | SX69SW |
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| Admin Area | Dartmoor National Park |
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| Civil Parish | Okehampton Hamlets |
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| District | West Devon |
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| Ecclesiastical Parish | OKEHAMPTON |
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Protected Status: none recorded
Other References/Statuses
- Old DCC SMR Ref: SX69SW/26
Monument Type(s) and Dates
- FORTIFIED ENCLOSURE (Saxon - 701 AD to 1065 AD)
Full description
Worth, R. N., 1895, Okehampton Beginnings, 106-107 (Article in Serial). SDV271183.
The name Halstock indicates a Saxon ‘strength’ defended by stockades and Worth surmises that the Saxons were occupying this site, rather than the nearby Iron Age camp to the north of Moor Brook. Halstock meaning simply the ‘stock’ or ‘stoke’ on the moor. Worth states that while this site was easily defensible, it was better adapted for tillage and this is what is represented in the Danegeld assessment or three virgates and a ferling (less than 100 acres). Worth believes the chief cause of the later prosperity of the manor was the shifting of the settlement to the meadows in the forks of the Okements and that Okehampton itself developed when the need for defence was over; thus the more peaceful enclosure of the ‘tun’ safely replaced the more warlike ‘stock’. He states that Halstock was probably still retained as a place of special retreat and shelter.
Griffith, F. M., 1987, DAP/HU, 3 (Aerial Photograph). SDV218009.
Sources / Further Reading
| SDV218009 | Aerial Photograph: Griffith, F. M.. 1987. DAP/HU. Devon Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). 3. |
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| SDV271183 | Article in Serial: Worth, R. N.. 1895. Okehampton Beginnings. Transactions of the Devonshire Association. 27. Digital. 106-107. |
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Associated Monuments
| MDV6933 | Related to: Chapel of St. Michael of Halstock (Building) |
| MDV107584 | Related to: Halstock Farm, Okehampton Hamlets (Monument) |
| MDV107585 | Related to: Homestead at Halstock, Okehampton Hamlets (Monument) |
| MDV128089 | Related to: Ridge and furrow near Lower Halstock Farm (Monument) |
Associated Finds: none recorded
Associated Events: none recorded
| Date Last Edited: | Aug 22 2023 3:06PM |
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