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MOUNSEY CASTLE

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The earthwork remains of an Iron Age univallate hillfort known as Mounsey Castle. An area of about 1.75 hectares is defined by single scarp to the east and west and a rampart to the south. There are two entrances to the site, one to the north east and the other to the south west, both of which appear to be original. The defences to the north are provided by an outwork located roughly 100 metres from the hillfort. It comprises a steep scarp with a shallow ditch to the rear and a level berm to the front, with a scarped bank below. The remains of a small stone building lie within the hiilfort and have been identified as a charcoal burner's hut.

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[SS 88562955] Mounsey Castle (NAT) Camp (NR) (1)

Mounsey Castle stands on a high promontory just south of the confluence of the Barle and Danes Brook. It is an irregular triangular earthwork with the curved base running almost due E-W and the apex pointing NE. Entrances are at the west end of the NE bank and at thw SW corner. The enclosure is about 170 yds. across the baseof the triangle and 200 yds. from this base to the apex. (2)

Univallate hillfort of under 3 acres (3). (2 & 3)

Mounsey Castle is a promontory fort at the southern end of a steep-sided ridge. The defence evidently consisted of a coursed stone wall supplemented by scarping the natural slope. Along the south sideintermittent sections of walling survive up to 0.5m high and 4.0m thick. Elsewhere there is a low bank, or merely the scarp, on which tumbled stone occurs throughout. A quarry ditch is visible within most of the perimeter. There are two entrance gaps: that on the west is certainly original and may have been approached from the south-east by a banked way. The other gap, in the north east, may have been caused by a modern terraced track from the valley below. A small rectangular structure with evidence of chimney, at SS 88602949, is probably a charcoal burners hut. Surveyed at 1/2500. (4)

SS 886295. Mounsey Castle. Scheduled.
(Listed under 'Camps and Settlements'). (5)

Mounsey Castle, in a semi-promontory position with a steep drop to theriver on the west, is a roughly triangular shaped fort. The defences are univallate on the SE and E sides with a ditch and counterscarp on the S. On the W the rampart runs along the top of a very steep slope down to the Barle. On the S the inner rampart can be seen to consist of a drystone wall about 3m thick still surviving several courses high. Behind the W rampart about 40m N of the SW entrance is a large recumbent slab, possibly a fallen standing stone. Visited 1 4 73.
(6)

Legend has it that a stone at Mouncey Castle fell from the Devil's apron as he was on his way to build Tarr Steps. (7)

Additional Bibliography. (8 - 11)

SS 885 295. Mounsey Castle. Listed in gazetteer as a univallate hillfort covering 1.75ha. (12)

Mounsey Castle was surveyed at a scale of 1:1000 by the RCHME as part of the Exmoor project. Full details in survey report (13).

Scheduling amended. (14)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1962

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

The Victoria history of the counties of England (C H Bothamley) 2, 1911 Page(s)492-493

( 3) Ordnance Survey 1962 Ordnance Survey map of southern Britain in the Iron Age

Page(s)45

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 JP 25-AUG-65

( 5) Scheduled Monument Notification

DOE (IAM) AMs Eng 2 1978 120

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

BAR British series1 (1974) - 91

( 7) Somerset archaeology and natural history : the proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society

29, 1883 Page(s)62

( 8) by Edward J Burrow 1924 Ancient earthworks and camps of Somerset

Earthworks and Camps of Somer 1924 88 (E J Burrow) Page(s)88

( 9) General reference

Page JLW, An Exploration of Exmoor 1890 Page(s)85-6

(10) by D P Dobson 1931 The archaeology of Somerset

The county archaeologies The Arch of Somerset, The County Arch Series 1931 247 (D P Dobson) Page(s)247

(11) Royal Archaeological Institute The Archaeological Journal

7, 1850 Page(s)300

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

BAR British series1 (1974) - 62

(13) Hazel Riley 1999 Mounsey Castle and Brewer's Castle : two Iron Age enclosures in the Barle Valley, Somerset : an archaeological survey by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England

RCHME Archaeological Field Survey reports1991 - Riley H 1999 Mounsey Castle and Brewer's Castle: two Iron Age enclosures in the Barle Valley, Somerset

(14) Scheduled Monument Notification

03-SEP-2004

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