Civil War redoubt 750m south east of East Linnacombe

Reasons for Designation

English Civil War fieldworks are earthworks which were raised during military operations between 1642 and 1645 to provide temporary protection for infantry or to act as gun emplacements. The earthworks, which may have been reinforced with revetting and palisades, consisted of banks and ditches and varied in complexity from simple breastworks to complex systems of banks and inter- connected trenches. They can be recognised today as surviving earthworks or as crop- or soil-marks on aerial photographs. The circumstances and cost of their construction may be referred to in contemporary historical documents. Fieldworks are recorded widely throughout England with concentrations in the main areas of campaigning. Those with a defensive function were often sited to protect settlements or their approaches. Those with an offensive function were designed to dominate defensive positions and to contain the besieged areas. There are some 150 surviving examples of fieldworks recorded nationally. All examples which survive well and/or represent particular forms of construction are identified as nationally important.

The Civil War redoubt 750m south east of Linnacombe survives well and is known from partial excavation to contain important archaeological and environmental information relating to its construction and use.

Details

This monument includes a Civil War redoubt situated in an elevated position with wide views overlooking Dartmoor and the valley of the River Thrushel. The monument survives as a double ditched, square-shaped enclosure with a square central platform measuring 13.9m across and 0.7m high, topped by a slight bank up to 3.6m wide and 0.2m high. Surrounding the square platform is a 2m wide and 0.2m deep ditch, beyond which is a second bank 1.8m wide and 0.2m high, which is visible on all sides except the west, and a second ditch up to 2.4m wide and 0.3m deep, visible to the north, south and east but preserved as a buried feature to the west. A slight bank to the south west may indicate the original entrance. The earthwork, which resembles that of the Scots Redoubt, Newark, dated 1646, was possibly erected in 1642 to guard the Cornish side of Okehampton. Partial excavation in 1986 showed that the outer ditch was much less substantial than the `V'-shaped inner one, and tip lines in the inner ditch indicated that there had once been a substantial bank around the central platform. Medieval pottery was also discovered. A stock proof fence crosses the monument on its western side. This is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath this feature 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:

34287

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SX59SW2, (1994)

End of official list entry

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