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Summary

A pair of Iron Age hilltop enclosures, which were probably reused in the Romano-British period.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1020381: Hilltop enclosures in North Wood, 780m NNW of Old Parsonage Farm
• SHINE: Two Iron Age and Romano-British sub-rectangular enclosures with an adjacent scarped platform and sub-circular enclosure to the north in North Wood

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX76SE/12
• Old SAM County Ref: 999
• Old SAM Ref: 33787
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX76SE11

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Unknown, Dartington North Wood (Worksheet). SDV177347.

Other details: Reference to FSO development file No 18.

Silvester, R. J., North Wood Dartington Enclosure B: Southern Defences (Plan - measured). SDV177353.

Section drawn from M. Biddle's 1966 work. See Biddle's negatives for location.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1951 - 1977, SX76SE11 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV177336.

The purpose and origin of these earthworks are doubtful. They may possibly be a medieval defensive work and are well sited along the ridge of the hill. They appear to be two sub-rectangular baileys with a raised earthen platform at their eastern end. There are slight traces of an outer ditch in places at the foot of the bank. Bank averages 1-1.5 metres in height on the outside and about 0.5 metres on the inside and are rather weak in places. The platform at the east end varies in height from about 1.0 metre at its west end to about 2.0 metres at its east end. The whole area is wooded and densely covered with bracken.

Elmhirst, L. K., 1959, Presidential Address: Some Aspects of the History of Dartington Hall, 23 (Article in Serial). SDV177335.

There are two great ditched compounds in North Wood to the south-west of the Staverton Ford, unexcavated. An earlier trackway seems to have crossed The Dart below the old priest's house of Littlehampton and to have risen over the hill just behind Dartington Hall.

Unknown, 1966, Dig: North Wood Dartington (Ground Photograph). SDV177357.

Two photographs of excavation trench, showing ditch. Other details: Given to SMR by P. Child, 1999/2000.

Hill, D., 1966, North Wood, Dartington. From a Plane Table Survey at a Scale of 1/500th (Plan - measured). SDV348540.

Unknown, 1966, Untitled Source, 5 (Article in Serial). SDV177337.

Dartington North Wood: four enclosures in this wood, three contiguous and one separate, are covered by a conifer plantation. Such surviving earthworks are rare in Devon (south). The position and location, too, of the single enclosure (which has been demonstrated by excavation to be Roman) suggests that it is a predecessor of the group and may imply continuity from Pre-Roman Iron Age to Romano-British. Preservation is recommended. If cleared it should be left open. The earthwork was partly excavated by Martin Biddle as a training exercise. A section was dug across bank and ditch of main enclosure and produced hob nails and Romano-British coarse pottery.

Biddle, M., 1967, Negatives of Survey and Excavation Plans of Biddle's 1966 Work (Ground Photograph). SDV177351.

Department of Environment, 1977, Enclosures, Probably Roman in Dartington North Wood (Schedule Document). SDV325305.

A complex series of earthworks on the crest of the hill in North Wood. The purpose and origin of the earthworks are far from clear, though a small excavation carried out in 1966 in the western most enclosure suggested that the earthworks were of Roman date. The banks of the enclosure average circa 3-4 feet in height on the outside and circa 18 inches on the inside. There are traces of an external ditch in places. The two clearest enclosures are sub-rectangular, adjoining one another. A third section to the east is less clear in form, and there are slight traces of a sub-circular enclosure further north, which may be earlier in date. Other details: Map.

Silvester, R. J., 1979, The Relationship of First Millennium Settlement to the Upland Areas of the South West, 183, Map (Article in Serial). SDV177352.

Silvester notes the discovery of a decorated spindle whorl on edge of enclosure at North Wood and refers it to later Iron Age settlement in the Torbay area. He draws a parallel with production or use of decorated ceramics.

Robinson, R. + Griffith, F. M., 1988, Enclosures and Earthwork in Dartington North Wood (Personal Comment). SDV325306.

Site visited 1st February 1988. Enclosures in excellent condition.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1994, Enclosures and Earthwork in Dartington North Wood (Report - Survey). SDV177338.

Two conjoined enclosures with an adjacent scarped earthwork platform projecting eastwards and a well defined hillslope enclosure to the north. The site occupies an un-named elongated hill oriented northeast-southwest. The enclosures are between 5 and 25 metres below the summit on the gentle north-east slopes. Now covered by dense vegetation.
Western enclosure (A) centred at SX78636339. Roughly sub-rectangular, 55 metres by 42 metres internally, enclosing 0.23 hectares. Broad shallow ditch with internal flat-topped bank evident on south and east side. Ditch now silted but best on east end of south side and averages 5 metres wide and 0.5 metres deep. Bank is 8 metres wide and 0.8 metres high. On north and west sides ditch spoil forms a low outer bank but there is no evidence of an inner bank. Forestry track may have obscured this outer bank on the south side of the enclosure, if it existed here. Existing entrance and ditch causeway on the south side probably overlies the original one. The interior is featureless. 1960's excavation trenching not backfilled, still visible in south-east corner. The excavation spoil forms a linear bank.
Eastern enclosure (B) centred at SX78696341, practically mirrors (A) in shape and size being 46 metres by 38 metres internally enclosing 0.18 hectares. Shallow ditch 5 metres wide and 0.4 metres deep best seen on north-east. Inner bank on east and south sides, flat-topped, 0.5 metres high and 6 metres wide. Nearly 30 metres of ditch on east end of south ditch has been infilled in modern times. Outer bank along north and part of east sides of the enclosure, only 0.4 metres high and 5 metres wide. Featureless interior. No trace of entranceway or a connecting way between the two enclosures; entrance may have been on south side, like (A).
Eastern earthwork (C) centred SX78776346. A well defined scarp or rampart with an obtuse angle commencing near south-east corner of enclosure (B). South side 0.7 metres high in the west reaching a maximum of 2 metres when it turns north for 70 metres before fading into hillslope. Outer ditch 5 metres wide and 0.5 metres deep. 30 metres south of the north end of the ditch is a causeway 5 metres wide. Ditch is max of 0.7 metres deep on north side of this causeway. Break in bank at causeway is wider than it and is flanked by amorphous 'mounds', the best preserved of which is 1 metre high and 14 metres long by 7 metres wide. These are fragments of an inner bank. Twenty metres south of the causeway is a lowering of the rampart, probably caused by modern usage. No trace of a scarp depicted on Ordnance Survey 1:2500 (1954) map between (C) and enclosure (B). No features on interior. Superficially (C) appears unfinished but contemporary with (A) and (B). Possible link to livestock farming and hide production. Excavated evidence suggests a Roman date.

Quinnell, H., 1998, Later Prehistoric Pottery Survey (Report - Survey). SDV336212.

Around 10 sherds of uncertain later Prehistoric pot recovered during excavation. Now with Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 1999, Proposed Works at Enclosures (Probably Roman) in Dartington North Wood, South Hams, Devon (Correspondence). SDV177343.

Scheduled Monument Consent granted in respect of works concerning thinning in favour of the better trees.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2002, Hilltop Enclosures in North Wood, 780 Metres North-north-west of Old Parsonage Farm (Schedule Document). SDV177345.

Two of three Iron Age hilltop enclosures, which were reused in the Romano-British period. A pair of adjoining ovoid enclosures, aligned north-east to south-west. A long rampart with traces of an outer ditch continues to the west, returning for a short distance to the north, with an entrance near its end. The western enclosure is trapezoidal in shape, with a rounded south side. Its interior measures 61 metres long and 44 metres wide, with a rampart from 4.5 metres to 9 metres wide and up to 1 metre high on its south and east sides. The outer ditch is a similar and depth with a counterscarp bank 5 metres wide and up to 0.4 metres high on the north and west sides. An entrance 5 metres wide lies in the centre of the south rampart. Excavations in 1966 on the east side produced hobnails and coarse pottery of the second to third century AD. The sites of these excavations are still visible as slight earthworks. The western enclosure has been partly constructed over the west rampart of the adjoining enclosure, which is therefore earlier. It is of ovoid shape, with an interior measuring 51 metres long and 40 metres wide. Its ramparts, outer ditches and upcast bank are of similar dimensions to the western enclosure, with the best surviving ramparts on the south. No entrance is visible. A bank projects from the south-east corner of this enclosure and continues 78 metres to the north-east, before turning to the north for a further 75 metres. It survives mainly as a scarp, measuring from 2 metres to 9 metres wide and up to 1.5 metres high, but near its north end, an entrance 8 metres wide has short sections of inner bank 6 metres wide and up to 1 metre high. An outer ditch survives on the east side, 7.5 metres wide and up to 1.3 metres deep. Traces of an upcast bank 4.5 metres wide and 0.4 metres high survive along the south side.

English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009: South West, 107 (Report - non-specific). SDV342694.

Extensive significant problems. Principal vulnerability forestry.

Ordnance Survey, 2009, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV341569.

Map object based on this Source.

English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010: South West, 100 (Report - non-specific). SDV344777.

English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011: South West, 105 (Report - non-specific). SDV355280.

Extensive significant problems. Declining. Principal vulnerability forestry.

Environment Agency, 2011, LIDAR data JPEG images (2 metre resolution) (Cartographic). SDV348634.

Enclosures and eastern earthwork shown clearly on Lidar image. Map object based on this source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV720 - POT (Prehistoric - 698000 BC to 42 AD)
• FDV722 - SPINDLE WHORL (Iron Age - 700 BC to 42 AD)
• FDV721 - POT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Associated Events

• EDV3605 - Enclosures and earthwork in Dartington North Wood

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