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COW CASTLE

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An Iron Age univallate hillfort enclosing 1.2 hectares is defined by a rampart of up to 2m in height with an external berm 4.5m wide. A stone revetment is visible on the external face of the rampart. A quarry ditch 5-7m wide follows the inner side of the rampart. It has a single entrance of 8m width on the eastern side . There are reported to be at least four house platforms within the enclosure, one is definitely visible but due to dense bracken coverage the others are not.

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[SS 7944 3734] Cow Castle (NR) (1)

Cow Castle, Exmoor - A univallate hillfort of under 3 acres (4) sited about 200 ft. above a bend of the River Barle. The bank is up to 10 ft. high with an outer ditch except where the slope makes this unnecessary (2). The entrance was on the SE and on the NE there is a modern opening through the rampart (3). (2-4)

Cow Castle occupies a defensive position encircling a knoll which lies in a broad, steep-sided valley. The hillfort consists of a single rampart (some fragments of retaining wall still survive) beyond which, on the N & W, is a berm. The gap in the NE is probably modern, that in the SE is original. See GP AO/65/183/7
Published survey (1/2500) revised. (5)

SS 795374 Cow Castle. Scheduled. (Listed under heading Camps and Settlements) (6)

Cow Castle covers 0.9 ha and is at a height of 235m OD. The defences consist of a mostly flat-topped bank which is apparently stone revetted on both inside and out. There is a silted ditch around the circuit. "The entrance gap on the SW is about 3m wide and the passage formed by the inturned ramparts in 9m deep, with vertical revetment stones visible on the S side". (There is no entrance gap or inturned ramparts shown on the SW on the plan by Authy 5. Perhaps Burrow refers to the entrance on the SE). The interior has very steep slopeson the W and N, but slopes more gently on the other two sides and there are possible hut platforms on the E side. Visited 30 3 73. (7)

Grinsell considers the orginal entrance to be in the NE, but he says Rainbird Clarke thought it to be in the SE where there is a small standing stone which could have formed part of its stonework. Allcroft mentions that the site is called Cow or Cae Castle. (8-9)

(SS 79443734) Cow Castle (NAT) Settlement (NR) (10)

Additional Bibliography. (11)

SS 794 373. Cow Castle. Listed in gazetteer as a univallate hillfort covering 1.1ha. (12)

Cow Castle, a univallate hilltop enclosure presumably of Iron Age date, is centred at SS 7945 3735. It occupies a steep-sided isolated knoll within the valley of the River Barle at its confluence with White Water, and therefore dominates the Barle valley.
The enclosure has an internal area of 1.2 hectares, most of which is on sloping ground. It is defined by a rampart up to 2m in height with an external berm 4.5m wide. On the southern side of the enclosure a stone revetment is visible on the external face of the rampart, and where it is best preserved, it survives as a coursed stone wall 0.8m high. A quarry ditch 5-7m wide follows the inner side of the rampart for most of its circuit.
The enclosure has a single entrance, 8m wide, on the eastern side. The ramparts are noticably higher on either side of the entrance, and the terminals have been heightened further. The northern one appears to be "T" - shaped or to turn both outwards and inwards. The same effect is noticeable though less pronounced on the southern terminal. An upright stone is visible on the external corner of the southern terminal, it is 0.65m high, 0.6m long and and 0.2m thick.
Source 13a reports that there are at least four house platforms within the enclosure on the northern side. These were not visible due to dense bracken. However, a slight platform was noticed at the north-western end of the enclosure, and there are several natural terraces on this side which would have been convenient locations for settlement. The quarry ditch may also have been used for buldings. (13a-13)

A large scale survey was undertaken by the Exeter Office of the RCHME for the Exmoor National Park Authority and as part of the RCHME Exmoor project in May 1997. The site was surveyed using GPS at a scale of 1:1000. The sites of probable prehistoric habitation were recorded, and an earthwork survey, contour plan and digital terrain model were produced. A detailed survey report is available from the archive (14-20).

The univallate hillfort of Cow Castle is clearly visible on aerial photographs examined as part of the Exmoor National Park National Mapping Project in 2008. The platforms described by authority 13 above, however, are not discernible (21).

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1904

( 2) General reference

An Exploration of Exmoor 1890 95-6 (J L W Page)

( 3) edited by William Page 1911 The Victoria history Somerset, volume two

The Victoria history of the counties of England 2 (1911) Page(s)495 PLAN

( 4) General reference

OS Map Southern Britain in the I A 1962 45

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F1 JP 01-SEP-65

( 6) General reference

DOE (IAM) AMs Eng 2 1978 120

( 7) by Ian Burrow 1981 Hillfort and hill-top settlement in Somerset in the first to eighth centuries A.D.

BAR British series1 (1974) - 91 (1981) Page(s)243

( 8) by L V Grinsell 1970 The archaeology of Exmoor : Bideford Bay to Bridgwater

Page(s)76,85,86,89

( 9) General reference

Earthwork of Eng 1908 174 (A H Allcroft)

(10) General reference

OS 1:10000 1980

(11) General reference

The N Devon Scenery Book 1863 51-2 (G Tugwell)

(12) by A H A Hogg 1979 British hillforts : an index

BAR British series1 (1974) - 62 Page(s)194

(13) General reference

Wilson-North & Chapman H 11-OCT-1994 RCHME Field Investigation.

(14) General reference

N V Quinnell Pers. Comm.

(15) General reference

Riley, H 1997 Cow Castle, Exmoor, Somerset: an archaeological survey by the RCHME

(16) Cow Castle/ink survey

(17) Cow Castle/pencil survey

Cow Castle/ink survey

(18) Cow Castle/contour survey

(19) Cow Castle/overlay

(20) Cow Castle

(21) Vertical aerial photograph reference number

NMR OS/96507 004-005 30-MAR-1996

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