Summary
The late-C19 military artillery range earthworks include a set of experimental parapets, a series of linear banks and ditches centred on the crest of a ridge 400m to the south, and an infantry redoubt, a curvilinear bank and ditch 200m west of the top of East Mill Tor.
Reasons for Designation
The experimental parapets and infantry redoubt at East Mill Tor are scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Period: the Royal Artillery Training Range at Okehampton played an important role in the advancement of new military techniques and tactics from the late C19 to the present day, and has a strong cultural and historical significance, within both a local and national context. The experimental parapets and infantry redoubt are part of the earliest phase of the range’s development;
* Survival: the late-C19 experimental parapets and infantry redoubt earthwork features survive well, providing clear evidence of their original construction and the development of artillery tactics and weaponry;
* Rarity: as the official summer school of the School of Gunnery, the range at Okehampton became the most important artillery range established in the late-C19, with a set of imaginative, and in some cases unique, practice range features;
* Documentation: the earthworks have been documented in historical maps of the range, and a number of landscape and condition surveys throughout the C21;
* Group value: the earthworks have strong group value with the other related military training features. The associated camp to the north is of historic significance in itself, particularly the listed late-C19 buildings, and the range and camp should not be seen in isolation of each other. The Okehampton earthworks are a key part of a larger multi-phased military landscape that can be seen across Dartmoor.
History
Dartmoor has been used as a defensive location since at least the Bronze Age. There is evidence of Iron Age, Roman, Medieval and Civil War military use in the Okehampton area, indicating the strategic significance of the area as the elevated gateway to the south west of England. Okehampton Artillery Training Range is on the northern edge of Dartmoor, to the south of the associated Camp that lies within the C13 Okehampton Deer Park. Medieval settlements were scattered through the park; the remains of one extends to the north of the range and others lie close by.
The modern military use of the moor dates back to the late C18 when it was used to train the Okehampton Militia. By the early C19, soldiers guarding Dartmoor Prison used the moor for training, and troops garrisoned in the Palmerston Forts in South Devon used Dartmoor by the mid-C19. The Militia also continued training, often on Hay Tor, and in large numbers. Later in the C19, due to improvements in the range and power of artillery weapons, the Royal Artillery School of Gunnery at Shoeburyness (est. 1859) became unsuitable for training, and Dartmoor was identified as a suitably barren and uninhabited area to become its summer headquarters. Training became formalised into regular summer manoeuvres for the Royal Artillery from 1873, with the permission of the landowner the Duchy of Cornwall. In 1875 a committee was set up under Major-General F Eardley-Wilmot FRS, whose purpose was to look at the problems of providing field artillery training under realistic service conditions, visited the northern part of Dartmoor and once again found it a suitable landscape for battlefield training. The recent provision of a railway station at Okehampton was also in its favour. In 1876, the first annual training event took place using the north moor, with a tented camp located at Okehampton.
By the early 1890s the War Office and Royal Artillery resolved to build a permanent camp at Okehampton to provide better protection against the harsh weather conditions. On 31st December 1892, the War Office secured a 999 year lease for the site of the camp: 94 acres of land on the Okehampton Park Estate. Other artillery training camps were set up at Lydd (1882), Golden Hill, Isle of Wight (1888) and Salisbury Plain (1899).
In 1895 an additional 10,000 acres of High Moorland were leased from the Duchy. From May to September each year, batteries from across England travelled by rail to Okehampton for two or three weeks training. In 1901 a battery consisted of 5 officers, 166 men, 6 guns and at least 89 horses. The camp could accommodate two brigades each containing four batteries.
In the late C19, probably in response to the tactics employed by the Boers during the wars in South Africa, trenches were dug, principally to determine methods of attacking these defensive positions. Further earthworks were created to facilitate training including earthen parapets and redoubts. An imaginative firing programme was also established with the addition of an extensive system of static, moving and disappearing targets. These were intended to represent advancing infantry, cavalry and guns. The targets were moved in a variety of ways including horses pulling targets on tracks, ropes, pulleys and sledges. Earth and granite covered concrete, splinter-proof shelters were also built to facilitate the observation of the artillery training and to instruct on the movement of targets. Some have subsequently been demolished, and those that survive remain in use as training features with the exception of Observation Post 22, at the corner of East Okement Farm, which is still used to observe manoeuvres.
Early communication was carried out by semaphore, with flag stations erected on high points across the moor. Later an extensive network of telephone cables was installed with concrete telephone points placed at strategic positions.
It is unclear whether any formal training was provided at Okehampton for First World War recruits, as those who joined up typically received a short period of training before being sent to the front. We do know formal training did occur at sites such as Larkhill Camp, Salisbury Plain, which was established during the First World War. Artillery training did continue at Okehampton during the 1920s and 30s. Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, virtually the whole of Dartmoor was requisitioned for army training. The D-Day preparations of 1943/4 led to the replacement of British troops with the American 4th and 29th Divisions, who took part in the Normandy invasion. Subsequently, training took place at Okehampton for the campaigns in Korea (1950-53) and Suez (1956). Since the late C20 the Camp and Range have been used extensively by the Territorial Army, Commando Brigades and the Royal Marines.
The earthwork features near to the summit of East Mill Tor are first shown on a military Ordnance Survey Map of Okehamtpon of 1898. A three sided feature labelled ‘INFANTRY REDOUBT’ is depicted to the south west of the tor and to the south a series of linear features arranged over three rows are labelled ‘EXPERIMENTAL PARAPETS’ and ‘REDOUBT’. They are also recorded on an Ordnance Survey of the range of 1907. These features form part of the training landscape and were probably used as fixed positions for training in attack and defence strategies. Historic aerial photographs (1969) show evidence of shell damage around the parapets particularly to the south-east and it appears that these were later used as static artillery target butts, with fire being directed towards them.
The earthwork remains of the parapets and the infantry redoubt were identified and surveyed as part of a study of the military range by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England in 1993 and again by English Heritage in 2004 (Probert). They have been recorded as part of the National Mapping Programme for Dartmoor and also as part of a historical and photographic survey of the range carried out in 2002 (Frances). Two other earthworks which appear to be of a similar construction to the infantry redoubt have been identified on the northern slope of East Tor: these are smaller earthworks and are of unknown date. Of those surviving across this range, the infantry redoubt to the south west of East Mill Tor is one of the largest known examples.
Details
PRINCIPAL FEATURES: the late-C19 military artillery range earthworks include a set of experimental parapets, a series of linear banks and ditches centred on the crest of a ridge 400m to the south, and an infantry redoubt, a curvilinear bank and ditch 200m west of the top of East Mill Tor.
DESCRIPTION: the experimental parapets consist of a line of four banks, positioned end to end in a north-west to south-east line between SX 5985 8932 and SX 5994 8922. Four corresponding ditches lie immediately behind (south-west). The banks are, on average, just under 30m long and measure between 3.5 to 5.5m wide and around 1.5m high; the ditches are 2.5 to 3.5m wide and just over 1m deep. The most south-easterly bank also has a ditch in front (north) that is 2.6m wide and 0.6m deep. Behind this line, to the south, is a similarly oriented, disturbed bank and accompanying ditch between SX 5984 8926 and SX 5987 8922. Further south still, between SX 5984 8931 and SX 5986 8929 is another, longer (circa 60m), bank and ditch. All the features have sharply defined edges except where damaged by shell fire. There has been some damage to the banks. In addition two utility trenches are known to have been placed through the front line of the parapets.
The infantry redoubt is centred on SX 5976 8974 and comprises a roughly semi-circular turf and stone bank 7.5m wide and up to 2m high with a ditch 3m wide and 0.7m deep immediately to the north. On the south face of the bank is a levelled step 1.7m wide and 0.8m below the crest. A further shallow ditch 0.6m wide and 0.6m deep lies at the foot of the south side of the bank. The feature has also been damaged by shell fire. There are other smaller redoubts of unknown dates on the northern slope of East Mill Tor. Of those surviving across this range, this infantry redoubt is the largest known example. Three utility trenches also cross the redoubt bank at the centre and to the east and a further utility trench runs next to the west end of the bank.
EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: the scheduled area is split into three separate areas of protection. The infantry redoubt to the north extends from SX5973589727 (west) to SX5978889732 (east). The experimental parapets to the south extend from SX5986989338 (north) to SX6000789234 (east) to SX598978918 (south) to SX5983789258 (west). A buffer of 2m is included around the scheduled areas for the support and preservation of the earthworks.
