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Summary

A fire beacon is recorded at Telegraph Hill, Ilsington. The name derives from the establishment of an Admiralty telegraph station on this site during the Napoleonic wars.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX87SW/18

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BEACON (XVIII to XXI - 1751 AD to 2009 AD)

Full description

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV297513.

Russell, p. /tda/87(1955)297/fire beacons in devon appendix d.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV297514.

Wilkin, w. H. /dcnq/19(1936-1937)202-204/the admiralty telegraph to plymouth, 1804-1814.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV297515.

Wilkin, w. H. /dcnq/19(1936-1937)317 fig/the admiralty telegraph to plymouth, 1805-1814.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV297516.

Osa=sx87sw17.

Wilkin, W. H., Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV31915.

The telegraph line from london to portsmouth was extended to plymouth in 1805-1806 and closed down in 1814. 'telegraph hill' is marked on the os map. A diagram of the mechanism of the telegraph is given (wilkin).

Russell, P. M. G., Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV6591.

Beacon on telegraph hill, s. Knighton, 198m. Admiralty telegraph station during the napoleonic wars (russell).

South West Heritage Trust, 1838-1848, Digitised Tithe Maps and Transcribed Apportionments (Cartographic). SDV359954.

The Tithe map for Ilsington depicts an L-shaped structure within a rectilinear plot (198], listed in the accompanying apportionment as ‘Telegraph & garden’.

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

The telegraph building is not depicted. An incompletely enclosed roughly triangular plot may be the remains of the telegraph station garden.

Environment Agency, 2021, University of Exeter Understanding Landscapes Project - Lidar visualisation (Cartographic). SDV366001.

A bank visible as an earthwork may correspond to a boundary depicted on the Ordnance Survey First Edition map.

Hegarty, C., 2025, Comment on Unlocking Landscapes project and related lidar and aerial photograph interpretations (Interpretation). SDV366411.

The boundary depicted on the Ordnance Survey First Edition map corresponds in part to an earthwork bank visible on images derived from lidar data. The telegraph station garden may have incorporated earthworks associated with an earlier enclosure or field system.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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