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ROAD CASTLE

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Road Castle is a bank and ditch defined enclosure of probable Iron Age date. It is almost square in plan, with rounded corners, and covers an area of approximately 0.3 hectares. The south, west and south east sides are defined by a rampart bank and an external ditch. The bank on the east side has been modified by the later addition of a hedgebank to the north is a steep scarp with a berm on its outer side. The original entrance is thought to be on the eastern side. The site has been surveyed as part of the East Exmoor RCHME survey and transcribed from aerial photographs during the Exmoor National Mapping Programme survey.

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[SS 86293758] Road Castle (NAT) Camp (NR) (1)

Road Castle, an almost square camp, some distance below the top of the hill about quarter of a mile SE of Exford. The defence on the E, S & W was a high bank of stones mixed with earth, with a ditch below, whilst on the N it was a steep scarp with a ditch below now much silted up. The E side has been destroyed and replaced by a modern bank and hedge, where the entrance seems to have been. (2).

Road Castle Camp: univallate hill fort under 3 acres. (3)

This is a small, apparently Iron Age, enclosure situated on the highest point at the end of a ridge. The rampart is strong, and it is particularly well preserved on the southern side.
Re-surveyed at 1:2500. (4)

SS 864376. "Road Castle (intrenchments) S of Lyncombe Wood". Scheduled. (5)

Road Castle is a strongly fortified site under improved pasture. The bank is 4.5m high on the S, where it is best preserved. On the N side ploughing has masked the rampart, the ditch is slight and two breaches have been made in the defences. On the E most of the defences have been destroyed by a hedge bank which runs N - S across the N part of the site but then turns SE, leaving a gap between the field and the surviving defences on the S and it is probable that this is the original entrance. Visited 30 3 73. (6)

(SS 86293758) Road Castle (NAT) Earthwork (NR) (7)

Additional Bibliography. (8 - 11)

The site is within the Exmoor National Park Farm Conservation Scheme. It is now fenced off separately from the surrounding land. Large scale survey is planned during the winter of 1997 as part of RCHME's East Exmoor project. (12)

Scheduling amended. (13)

The earthworks of the Road Castle bank and ditch defined later prehistoric enclosure are clearly visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards. The enclosing banks are up to 13 metres in diameter, defining an almost square internal area of circa 0.25 hectares. The external ditch is only clearly visible on the southern side. No internal features can be seen on the photographs available to the survey. (14-16)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Annotated Record Map

OS 6" 1962

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

The Victoria history of the counties of England 2 (1911) Page(s)504

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

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 GHP 27-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.

British Archaeological Report (BAR) British series1 (1974) - 91 (1981) Page(s)258

( 7) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 1:10000 1979

( 8) by A Hadrian Allcroft 1908 Earthwork of England : prehistoric, Roman, Saxon, Danish, Norman, and mediaeval

Earthwork of Eng. 1908 115 383 fn (A H Allcroft) Page(s)115 383

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

Earthwork and Camps of Somer 1924 96 (E J Burrow) Page(s)96

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

The county archaeologies The Arch of Somer, The County Arch. Series 1931 257 (D P Dobson) Page(s)257

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

Page(s)85-86

(12) Field Investigators Comments

R Wilson-North 16-SEP-1997 RCHME Field Investigation

(13) Scheduled Monument Notification

03-SEP-2004

(14) Vertical aerial photograph reference number

NMR RAF 406G/UK/1655 (F20) 3427-8 11-JUL-1946

(15) Vertical aerial photograph reference number

NMR RAF 540/860 (F20) 3011-12 02-SEP-1952

(16) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

NMR SS 8637/8 (NMR 15431/34) 15-MAY-1996

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