More information : (SX 17446775) Crowpound (NR) (1) Very regularly built: surveyed by Flinders Petrie. (2) The name is probably derived from the fact that a cross once stood there (see SX 16 NE 24). Its origins are unknown but figure in the stories regarding St. Neot. Henderson (a) suggested that it might be the great pound of the manor of Fawton but Pascoe does not agree. (3) SX 17446775. A perfectly rectangular enclosure orientated NNE-SSW, measures 52m by 40m, and has a bank 0.8m high with traces of an outer ditch up to 0.3m deep. The only original entrance is a break 3.0m wide, in the centre of the south side. It is still known as "Crowpound". At the centre of the enclosure is a roughly circular earth bank resembling a hut circle in plan, 10.0m diameter, with an entrance in the north. The whole earthwork is well preserved except where disturbed by later mining activity. The form and condition of the enclosure suggest it is of medieval or later origin, and may well be a pound as its name suggests. The term 'crow' is usually applied to a small stone built structure such as a goose house, built into or against a barn etc, but rarely free standing. The hut like feature is either contemporary or later than the pound. Surveyed at 1:2500. (4) Depicted on NMR Bodmin Moor AP transcription. (5) Distinctive name : Crowpound (local useage). Situated on the level top of a broad south east spur at 180m O.D., in an unenclosed area of moorland. Crowpound is well formed rectangular enclosure with an approximately north to south orientation. The interior measures 50m x 38m and was originally flat, though the southern half is now covered with prospecting pits. Enclosing bank, of sharp profile and with sharply rounded corners is about 2.5m wide and 1m high constructed of earth and shillet. There are traces of a ditch 1.3m wide and 0.2m deep on both the inner and outer faces of the bank but much interrupted by mineral diggings. Simple entrance gaps, 2.5m wide, are centrally placed in the north and south sides; either or both could be original. The circular work within Crowpound has a slightly raised interior 8m in diameter encompassed by a turf covered bank 2m wide and 0.7m high with a 2m entrance gap in the bank 2m wide and 0.7m high with a 2m entrance gap an the north. There is no ditch either inner or outer. The interior is disturbed by military slit trenches and minor diggings. It is impossible to say with certainty whether this earth work is an original feature or not for although it would well be a horse whim associated with a mine shaft 15m to the west which has cut through the bank of Crowpound this seems unlikely due to the fact that it sits precisely in the centre of the enclosure which suggests a much more sophisticated concept. The existence of inner and outer ditches to the main enclosure militate against a defensive purpose but beyond this it is idle to speculate.
In fair condition : mutilated by old mineral workings. Surveyed at 1:2500. No finds. (6)
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