Medieval settlement immediately south of Halfway Wall, Lundy

Reasons for Designation

Lundy is a small, steep sided island in the Bristol Channel, 16m north of Hartland Point, north Devon. Aligned north-south, it is 6km long by 1km wide and supports a predominately moorland vegetation. The 100m high cliffs and tabular form give it a striking appearance, visible in clear weather from parts of south west England and south Wales. Lundy's remoteness and (until the 19th century construction of the Beach Road) its inaccessibility, combined with a lack of shelter and cultivable soils, has meant that it has escaped more recent occupation or development. It therefore preserves a remarkable variety of archaeological sites from early prehistory (c.8000 BC) onwards, representing evidence for habitation, fortification, farming and industry. There are also archaeological remains in the waters surrounding the island - over 150 shipwrecks are already recorded. Most of the island's archaeology is well documented from detailed survey in the 1980s and 1990s.

The medieval settlement immediately south of Halfway Wall survives well with field boundaries and associated enclosures preserved as earthworks over a wide area. The remains will preserve good evidence of the farming economy over a long period of occupation, perhaps dating back to the Iron Age.

Details

The monument includes an enclosed area of moorland to the south of Halfway Wall which contains the remains of a medieval farmhouse, additional structures and associated enclosures. The area is partly covered by ridge and furrow representing medieval cultivation and partly by low lynchets and small field terraces running down the cliff slope above Halfway Wall Bay. The remains of the farmhouse are on the eastern side of the enclosed area and represent a roughly rectangular building of medieval date measuring 15m by 8m internally with a possible annexe on the south side and a semicircular enclosure attached to the north western wall 9m long and 5m wide internally. To the north west of the farmhouse are the remains of possible stock pounds built across the line of a low wall bank which runs for 110m north and south across the enclosure. These remains appear as low earthworks. The complex measures 28m by 18m and is oriented north and south. In the south west corner of the enclosed area is a D-shaped double enclosure represented by a low earthwork 15m across the interior and perhaps cut by the enclosure bank at a later date. Traces of ridge and furrow cultivation survive on its easternside. Outside the enclosure bank on the north west side is an area of lynchet terracing with the earthwork remains of a possible rectangular building which measures 10m by 7m internally and is oriented north west-south east. This appears to have a small structure attached to the north east side. To the east of this building a stone and earth bank defines the top of the cliff running north to south for 70m to meet the enclosure wall at its north east corner. The northern side of this area of lynchets and banks is disturbed by quarries and stone dumps left by the construction of the Halfway Wall. To the east of the farmhouse is a series of small terraced fields with vestigial walls running down over the cliff slope and an enclosure wall at the extreme edge of the cliff. This wall continues the line of the southern wall of the enclosure. In the centre of the enclosure and 30m to the west of the Trinity House trackway which runs north to south across the area, are the remains of a Heinkel 111 bomber which crash landed on Lundy returning from a raid on Swansea in 1941. The surface of the Trinity House trackway is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

30358

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Thackray, C, The National Trust Archaeological Survey, (1989)

End of official list entry

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