THE NORTH DEVON AREA OF OUTSTANDING
ARCHAEOLOGICAL BEAUTY
PHASE 1 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY
SUMMARY REPORT
A.J. Collings, P.T. Manning & John Valentin
Exeter Archaeology
Report No. 06.22
April 2006
Contents
1.
Introduction
1.1 Documentation
1
2
2.
Methodology
2
3.
Survey Results
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Statutory Designations
3.3 Prehistoric
3.4 Romano-British
3.5 Post-Roman
3.6 Saxon and Medieval
3.7 Post-Medieval
3.8 19th Century
3.9 20th Century
2
2
3
4
6
6
6
8
10
12
4.
Themes and site types
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Settlement
4.3 Agriculture
4.4 Religion
4.5 Fishing and saltworking
4.6 Industry and quarrying
4.7 Defensive and military sites
13
13
13
13
14
14
14
14
5.
Further work
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Potential method for Phase 2 work
4.7 Possible site types for increased interpretation
15
15
16
17
Acknowledgements
17
Sources consulted
18
1
1. INTRODUCTION
The North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (hereafter AONB) was designated in
1960 and covers an area of approximately 171 sq. km of mainly coastal land, extending from
the county boundary with Cornwall along to the western edge of Exmoor National Park. It
extends inland to a distance ranging from a mere 600m at Clovelly’s Hobby Lodge to nearly
5km west of Berry Down in Berrynarbor parish. Only rarely does the inland boundary
coincide with a parish boundary.
The Management Strategy and Action Plan (2004) for the AONB has highlighted the ‘Lack
of knowledge of archaeological assets’ as a key issue and this has led to the preparation of
this Phase 1 archaeological survey. In addition to the AONB, Braunton Great Field and
Braunton Marshes have also been included as part of the survey as they lie within the
designated North Devon Heritage Coast.
The landscape covered by the AONB designation is mainly coastal and rural, and contains
many dispersed small villages, hamlets and farms, although it does include the larger villages
of Hartland, Croyde, Woolacombe and Combe Martin. The more densely populated
settlements of Bideford, Northam, Braunton and Ilfracombe are outside the designated area.
Within the AONB there are a range of landscape types. Along the coast these include the
high cliffs of Hartland and those immediately to the east and west of Ilfracombe. More
sheltered cliffs lie along Bideford Bay and the low-lying sand dunes at Northam and
Braunton Burrows. Further inland the area is mainly agricultural, with pasture fields
dominating. Large woodland areas are generally restricted to the Clovelly Coast and adjacent
combes. Arable farming is largely localised, but includes clusters of fields at Abbotsham,
Baggy Point, Georgeham, Braunton and to the west of Ilfracombe.
The archaeological survey has been entirely desk-based and addresses the following aims, as
set out in the brief for the work prepared by Devon County Council and the North Devon
AONB team:

To address the lack of detailed and up to date archaeological information within the
North Devon AONB, providing enhanced baseline information.

To provide information for current and future agri-environment conservation
initiatives, public access and interpretation initiatives, planning consultations as well
as for general research.
In addition, the survey is intended to guide and prioritise further survey in Phase 2 by
identifying sites that:

Require field verification or clarification.

Require specific management proposals.

Have significant interpretation potential and are accessible by the public or are
visible from a footpath.
2
1.1 Documentation
The area is not well-supplied with the early documentation that can supplement the
archaeological evidence. There are no Saxon land charters and the Domesday Survey of 1086
provides the first mention of virtually all the manors. Estate maps are also sparse. Apart from
an 1802 map book of the Davie/Bassett estate centred on Berrynarbor,1 the earliest largescale mapping is the tithe surveys of around 1840, so that for most areas prior major
landscape changes cannot be fully documented, nor the precise configuration of settlements
discussed with any confidence. However, where written manorial surveys survive, they may
to some extent be able to fill in the gaps.
2. METHODOLOGY
The methodology for the work was set out in the initial brief prepared by Devon County
Historic Environment Service and the North Devon AONB team. It has comprised the
following:









Analysis of existing HER data.
Analysis of data held within the National Trust Sites and Monuments Record.
Consultation with North Devon Archaeological Society to obtain any information on
survey work within the AONB that has not reached the Devon HER.
Review of historic maps, including parish tithe maps, Ordnance Survey Surveyors’
drawings, first and second edition Ordnance Survey maps and available early Estate
and Enclosure maps.
Field name evidence from Tithe Apportionments.
Rapid survey of published sources relating to the area.
Consultation with the local museum curator.
Analysis of Admiralty charts and other material held in the UK Hydrographic Office.
Examination of 1946 and 1999/2000 aerial photographs held by Devon County
Council.
3. SURVEY RESULTS
3.1 Introduction
The accompanying MapInfo mapping and database is a gazetteer of all previously recorded
and new archaeological sites and historic buildings identified during the survey. Prior to the
survey Devon Historic Environment Record had 1,710 entries within the area of the AONB.
As a result of the present work a further 1279 sites can be added to the Devon HER. Some of
these can be classed as new sites found as a direct result of this research, while others, such as
those from the National Trust SMR, have not yet been submitted to the Devon HER. Site
numbers referred to below correspond with the unique numbers allocated for all previously
recorded and new sites included in the database. Previously recorded sites are survey
numbers 1 – 1710 in the database and new sites 1711 – 2995.
The AONB designation encompasses varying proportions of 17 separate parishes. Table 1
below lists the proportion of each parish within the AONB and the number of previously
recorded and new sites identified during the survey. The table does not include nine sites
1
DRO Z17/3/2.
3
which form, are part of, or cross, the boundary between parishes. These sites include
boundary stones, a road, a bridge a shipyard at Newberry Beach and the settlement of Bucks
Mill which straddles the parish boundary between Woolfardisworthy and Parkham.
To some extent the number of sites listed within each parish is the result of research bias and
the quantity and quality of documentary evidence available. For example, the work of
Professor Harold Fox within Hartland Parish and the availability of a digital version of the
tithe map means more new sites there were identified there than anywhere else. In the whole
of Welcombe parish only 26 sites were recorded previously, with the present work increasing
the number to 73.
Table 1.
Parish
Abbotsham
Approximate AONB
coverage (%)
62
Number of existing
Devon HER sites
91
Number of new and
non HER sites
64
Alwington
56
20
75
Berrynarbor
80
141
133
Bittadon
11
15
3
Braunton
48
170
56
Clovelly
47
77
90
Combe Martin
45
165
41
Georgeham
75
218
99
Hartland
83
357
373
Heanton Punchardon
7
9
0
Ilfracombe
58
134
97
Kentisbury
9
5
8
Mortehoe
71
116
115
Northam
20
128
13
Parkham
12
25
42
Welcombe
100
26
47
Woolfardisworthy
7
13
14
1710
1270
Totals
3.2 Statutory designations
Scheduled Monuments
There are 29 scheduled monuments within the area of the AONB. These include some of the
coastal Iron Age promontory hillforts and hillslope enclosures and many of the extant Bronze
Age barrows. These sites are considered of national importance under the 1979 Scheduled
Ancient Monument and Archaeological Areas Act and consent from the Department of
Culture Media and Sport would be required for any works which impact upon the
monuments.
4
Listed buildings
There are 256 listed structures recorded within the Devon HER. These are mostly designated
Grade II (229) and comprise farmhouses, chapels, cottages, outbuildings, walls, limekilns and
a mine tunnel at Combe Martin. Most of these buildings are of traditional construction and
add enormously to the character to the area.
There are 22 Grade II* buildings recorded. These include St. Nectan’s holy well in
Welcombe, many farmhouses, plasterwork at Brownsham in Hartland, St. Nectan’s church in
Welcome, Portledge House in Alwington, Watermouth Castle, the Church of St Sabinus at
Woolacombe and the Pack of Cards Inn in Combe Martin.
Of particular interest are the six Grade I buildings, which comprise Hartland Abbey House
and the parish churches at Hartland, Clovelly, Combe Martin, Georgeham and Mortehoe.
All listed buildings are considered of national importance under current guidelines.
3.3 Prehistoric
Palaeolithic (c. 450,000 BC to c. 9,500 BC)
Only two sites of this period are recorded within the AONB, which are findspots of possible
flint tools from Northam Parish (Sites 434, 513). It is conceivable that both pieces are of later
prehistoric date.
Mesolithic (c. 9,500 BC to c. 4000 BC)
Sites of this period represent the first evidence within the AONB for in situ human
occupation. A number of flint knapping sites have been recorded in Georgeham parish (e.g.
Baggy Point, Sites 1597, 1600 and 1601) and a shell midden of this date (Site 329) has been
recorded associated with a submerged forest at Westward Ho!.
Many areas of the AONB have also produced surface flint scatters of this date, including
material from the parishes of Mortehoe, Northam, Parkham, Abbotsham, Clovelly and
Hartland. There are many such sites in Abbotsham, identified as a result of systematic
fieldwalking within the parish.
Neolithic (c. 4000 BC to c. 2000 BC)
Much of the evidence for activity of this period within the AONB again derives from flint
scatters recorded in a number of locations within the AONB. In addition, a line of Neolithic
timber stakes were recorded during investigations at Westward Ho!, and may represent
evidence for a trackway of this date.
The Neolithic period might also provide the first evidence for funerary activity within the
AONB, with a possible chambered tomb in Mortehoe parish (Site 1082) and a possible long
barrow recorded in Abbotsham parish (Site 166). This latter feature has been badly damaged
by ploughing and therefore its date and function are uncertain.
Bronze Age (c. 2000 BC to c. 700 BC)
Much of the activity of this period is easily recognisable within the AONB, in the form of
prominent monuments such as barrows and standing stones. Important barrow cemeteries are
located at Bursdon Moor and Higher Welsford in Hartland, Lynton Cross in Bittadon and
Berry Down and Ettiford in Berrynarbor. In Abbotsham parish a number of possible barrows
5
are recorded within the Devon HER, but are now thought to represent natural rock outcrops.
In Hartland parish a barrow is recorded on an Ordnance Survey drawing of 1804 (Site 2424),
but is then not shown in 1809 or on later maps. Although no associated mound or burial was
present, early Bronze Age beaker pottery has been found in Northam parish (Site 282).
The majority of the prehistoric standing stones are within the upland areas of the AONB.
Many of those recorded are isolated examples, but there is an alignment of five stones in
Ilfracombe parish, the first near Warcombe Lane (Site 734) and a group of three at Lee Down
(Sites 1636, 1637 and 1641). A single standing stone at Whitestone Lee (Site 1643) is
described in the Devon HER as ‘one of the most notable in the district’.
There are a number of new sites recognised during the survey containing the field name
element of ‘stone’. These may suggest the presence or former presence of a standing stone
either within the field or in close proximity. Parishes where this name is present include
Georgeham, Mortehoe, Ilfracombe and Hartland.
Other possible sites of this period within the AONB include circular cropmarks on the raised
beach deposit at Westward Ho! (Site 323) and a ring cairn near Higher Welsford (Site 565).
There have also been a number of flint scatters recorded containing Bronze Age material,
including assemblages in the parishes of Georgeham, Northam, Abbotsham and Clovelly.
Iron Age (c. 700 BC to AD 43)
The principal monuments of this date within the AONB are the promontory forts of Clovelly
Dykes (Site 555), Peppercombe Castle (Site 105), Newberry Castle (Site 1354), Hillsborough
(1214), Windbury Head (Site 234) and Embury Beacon (Site 261).
The most impressive of these sites is Clovelly, which covers an area of c. 8 hectares and
contains a complex and well-preserved series of earthworks. Embury Beacon in Hartland was
excavated during the 1970s and has now largely eroded into the sea, with only the landward
side defences and entrance way now surviving. Also in Hartland parish at Hillford (Site 576)
a former defended site is thought to have once been present.
The only other recorded site of Iron Age date is a hillslope enclosure in Bittadon parish (Site
844), which has been subjected to limited excavation and field survey.
Prehistoric (undated)
A number of sites within the AONB are likely to be of prehistoric date, but cannot be
assigned to a particular period. These include sub-oval field patterns which might indicate the
presence of an earlier enclosure (e.g. Site 1775 in Welcombe), a cist burial from Georgeham
parish (Site 1124) and a cremation burial (Site 729) in the cliff face at Barricane Beach,
Mortehoe.
The plotting of aerial photographs has identified a number of sites that might date to the
prehistoric period. These include five circular cropmarks at Berrynarbor (Site 2918), three
curvilinear earthworks at Kentisbury (Site 2923) and possible sub-circular enclosures at
Mortehoe (Sites 2910, 2913 & 2914). In addition rectangular enclosures have also been
recorded at Hartland (Site 2888) and Parkham (Site 2896).
6
Field name evidence from the parish tithe maps might also indicate the presence of
prehistoric or later sites. There are a number of names containing either ‘bury’, ‘borough’ or
‘berry’, with these suggesting that there were once earthworks present.
Other field name evidence include the adjoining fields of ‘Great Castles’ and ‘Little Castles’
in Hartland parish (Site 2059) and a block of seven fields with the same name type just to the
north of these (Site 20), which might suggest the former presence of a defended site.
3.4 Romano-British (AD 43 to c. AD 410)
There are few sites of this period within the AONB and in North Devon generally. This,
however, may reflect the lack of archaeological work in the area, rather than the absence of
settlement during the Roman period.
The recent discovery of a large Romano-British iron smelting furnace at Brayford (Dunkerley
pers. comm.) highlights the potential for hitherto unknown sites of this period to be present
within the AONB. During work at Westward Ho! organic deposits were recorded (Site 128)
which contained animal bone dated to the Romano-British period. There were also timbers
present of this date which might have formed part of a trackway or fish trap (Site 99).
The remaining Romano-British sites comprise isolated coin finds from Woolacombe Sands,
Widmouth Head and Rapparee Cove and small quantities of pottery from Alwington,
Mortehoe and Combe Martin parishes.
3.5 Post-Roman (c. AD 410 to c. AD 700)
No documentary sources or inscribed stones survive for the area from this period. However,
the church of St Nectan at Hartland is plausibly regarded as having originated as a Celtic
monastery founded during the 7th century by Nectan (Site 538); it is suggested that parts of
the inner and outer enclosures have survived as field boundaries in the present landscape.2
Trellick Farm, some 2km south of the church, provides a rare example of a Celtic name, and
is likely to have been functioning in the Early Christian period, although not documented
until 1249.3 Cheristow, some 2km north-east of the church, provides another early name, and
is the location of a chapel dedicated to St Wenn (another Celtic saint) where there may be a
graveyard (Site 233). This could also be the case at South Hole, where there was a chapel to
St Heligan (Site 602).
Other farm names that are potentially significant include Berry, Blegberry, Butterbury
(otherwise Goldenpark), Tosberry and Titchberry, these ‘berry’ names being regarded as
referring to enclosed settlements of the ‘round’ type, although only the last-named provides
an example with surviving curvilinear boundary (Sites 33, 93, 149, 221, 236, 1995).
3.6 Saxon and Medieval (c. AD 700 to AD 1540)
The only reference to the area prior to the Domesday Survey is to be found in the will of
King Alfred dating from c. 880; in it he granted to Edward, his eldest son, lands that included
Hartland.4 The nature of royal interest in such a remote area, apparently of neither economic
nor strategic importance, has never been explained. Given the presence of three ‘cinder-type’
field names in the Hardisworthy area it is possible that they relate to otherwise undocumented
2
Pearce 2004, 170, 185.
Pearce 1985, 266.
4
Keynes & Lapidge 1983, 175.
3
7
iron-working (Sites 1752-54), and that the location was important economically in the remote
past.
While the Domesday Survey is uniquely informative, it gives very little indication of
exploitation of the seaboard. Salt-workings were recorded from the manors of Saunton, Lobb
and Northam,5 all three of which might have been located in the estuary rather than on the
exposed coast. However, the Survey tells us nothing about settlement form, and it has to be
assumed that the typical settlement at that period was the hamlet, or, less likely, the isolated
farm.
It is believed that the network of parishes, each focused on its parish church, evolved during
the 12th century, with Hartland being exceptionally large, initially covering some 18,500
acres and having 11 chapels within its present bounds (which were somewhat reduced in
1508 when Welcombe was created as a separate ecclesiastical parish).6 Other medieval
chapels are recorded in the area dedicated to St Helen at Croyde, St Ann at Braunton Burrows
and St Wardreda at Lee. Popular religion in the form of holy wells is much less well
documented, and they are more common in the extreme west of the area.
The highest land in each parish tended to be the location of a beacon, to give warning of
attack. The one at Hartland gave its name to the settlement of Fyrbykene, recorded by 1301.7
Other defensive structures of this period remain quite unknown.
It is likely to be in this period that today’s network of fields, hedgebanks and lanes originated,
although there is an absence of documentary and archaeological evidence to confirm this. In
certain places the current field patterns reveal their origin from enclosure of medieval strips,
but a ‘reverse-J’ seems to replace the ‘reverse-S’ characteristic of the system in its Midlands’
heartland. However, the surviving strips on Braunton Great Field, which extends over more
than 350 acres and divided into some 16 furlongs or blocks, do not display any particular
curve.
Obviously the salt-laden westerly gales are detrimental to agriculture, and one attempt to
protect the crops and stock is still to be seen in the very large Devon banks; those around
Hartland Point must be among the largest in the county. The majority of today’s farms appear
to be first documented in the 13th or 14th centuries. This period may have seen the origin of
the practice of dressing the fields with sea sand, which contains shell fragments capable of
neutralising the natural acidity of the soils derived from the Devonian and Carboniferous
rocks. The practice is recorded further south on the Tavistock Abbey estates as early as
1332.8
Population growth over the two centuries from 1086 provided the opportunity for hamlets to
grow or coalesce into villages, and three were to be provided with urban attributes. Combe
Martin’s market and fair charters date from 1222 and 1265, burgesses being present by 1249,
but the silver mining is not documented until 1292.9 The mines are known to have been
worked to produce both silver and lead at intervals throughout the middle ages, but no
workings from that date have been positively identified and the activity may have lain outside
5
Thorn & Thorn 1985, 36,10; 35,20; 12,1.
Dean Milles Questionnaire; Hoskins 1954, 512.
7
Site No. 46.
8
Finberg 1969, 89.
9
Letters et al. 2003, 101; Combe Martin Local History Group 1989, 26.
6
8
the AONB area. Hartland was granted market and fair charters in the 1280s and created a
borough in the following decade, while Clovelly was granted market and fair charters in
129010, presumably by then a port, since later that decade it was named in a list of nearly a
hundred ports from which the King decreed that no one might leave the realm without his
special licence.11 One writer has referred to the landward part of the quay as being of 14thcentury date,12 but this is not universally accepted.
The 14th century saw a dramatic decline in population particularly as a result of the Black
Death. It is fortunate that surveys of Hartland manor exist for both before and after that event
and these have been exploited by Professor Harold Fox of the University of Leicester to
reveal the contraction in the population of the hamlets during the later middle ages,
sometimes to the point of desertion.13 Thus Eddistone shrank from 19 tenants to only 6
between 1301 and c. 1365 and Firebeacon from 11 to 5 during the same period; Hendon
shrank from 8 to 3, becoming deserted by 1566, while all 3 of Youldon’s tenants in 1301 had
gone by c. 1365 (Sites 46, 2014, 2024 & 2212).14 It is likely that these results are also
applicable throughout the region, where the documentation has not survived.
3.7 Post-medieval (c. AD 1540 to the end of the 18th century)
The shelter from the south-west enjoyed by Clovelly Bay provided the potential for a herring
fishery to develop once Sir George Cary had built or enlarged the pier towards the end of the
16th century. This enabled Clovelly to develop as the safest harbour between the Taw–
Torridge estuary and Boscastle, where a fishing community evolved with cottages built on
either side of the diverted stream.15 Around this time William Abbot built a quay at
Hartland,16 although whether it survived into the 19th century or had to be rebuilt is
questionable. Also, Richard Cole is said to have built a quay at Bucks Mills, apparently the
ridge of rocks extending north from Old Quay Point, in which there were said to be ringbolts, but being awash at half-tide they today provide little protection overall.17 However, it
enabled a small fishery to develop, while for most of the North Devon coast fishing remained
a very risky occupation.
It may well be that the typical settlement form during the early post-medieval period
remained the hamlet, but with the resumption in population growth there was again the
potential for them to grow or coalesce into villages. A reference from 1422 refers to the
communities of Overham and Netherham, and it might have been several centuries before
they grew together to form Georgeham.18 A minority of hamlets will have declined to
become the isolated large farm, and a few, possibly very few, have become totally deserted.
This has considerable implications for the archaeology of the area.
Working of the Combe Martin mines resumed during this period and it is believed that a
water-powered smelt mill was present in the village by around 1550; later that century a
mine, not located, had been worked to a depth of 32 fathoms, while ore was brought over
10
Letters et al 2003, 103, 100
Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward I, Vol. IV, 1296–1302, 1906, 81–2.
12
Boyle 1952, 189.
13
Fox 1983, 1989.
14
Pers. comm. Professor Harold Fox, 2006.
15
Exeter Archaeology 2004, 3.
16
Nix & Myres 1982, 6.
17
Boyle 1952, 195; Risdon 1811, 242
18
Inquisition Post Mortem of Thomas Archdeken, quoted in Lega-Weekes 1905, 327.
11
9
from Ireland for smelting.19 One deep adit in the village is regarded as being of 17th-century
date.20 Working continued to be intermittent, with the curate who responded to Dean Milles’
Questionnaire of the 1750s writing of lead ore being ‘worked about 5 years ago’.
The use of sand appears to have continued until late in the 19th century. Occasionally, later
maps have shown sandways or sanding roads, and an Alwington Manor court roll from 1540
refers to the ‘true sandway’ as well as a permissive route down to Portlinche (Portledge)
Mouth.21 In this manor labour services in the shape of the requirement to carry sand to the
barton farm were still being imposed as late as the 1590s.22
Around this period the use of sand was supplemented by a more scientific method that
became practicable as boat construction and seamanship improved, involving bringing
limestone and culm across from South Wales and burning it in the limekilns. There is a
record from the Gower peninsula in the mid 16th century of Devon sailors paying
‘Mainboard’ or ‘Cliffidge’ for the right to load limestone, while the absence of corresponding
records in the North Devon port books indicates that it was being unloaded on beaches and
not at quays.23 Thus, the earliest kilns are likely to have originated in the mid 16th century. It
therefore appears that the practice of vessels beaching on the sand to unload, hoping that the
weather would not take a turn for the worse before they could float off again, was present by
the 16th century. Coastal trade was more practicable where there was limited shelter, as at
Watermouth and Combe Martin, although little in the way of harbour works. Boatbuilding is
recorded at both these communities.
An early 18th-century sketch map of Putsborough Beach shows ‘Invention House’, now
contracted to Vention, adjoining the kiln (Sites 1402 & 1421). In places where the kiln was
located above a rocky shore a channel could be excavated, allowing vessels a closer
approach. Some of these are still detectable on current maps: Peppercombe Lear (a dialect
word possibly confined to Devon), The Gut at Bucks Mills, and Black Pit at Lee being
examples (Sites 346, 2376 & 2715). Towards the east of the region, in Berrynarbor and
Combe Martin, there were deposits of Devonian limestone that could be utilised. It is not
known when they were first exploited but it is said that there were 18 kilns in Combe Martin
parish in the later 19th century.24
Another improvement was the catchwork system, whereby water emerging from springs (and
therefore slightly warmer than the soil in winter and spring) was distributed along artificial
channels and over the surface of fields, enabling grass to achieve a longer growing season.
This practice was pioneered in Herefordshire’s Golden Valley around 1589 and it is not
known when it was introduced into Devon, but these systems are more common in the east of
the area. Occasionally the field name ‘Shutt Meadow’ or ‘Shute Meadow’ has been
encountered and this may refer to such a system; alternatively, it may indicate a meadow that
had previously been divided into ‘shots’ or strips.
Most of the coastal parishes responded to the Revd Dean Milles’ enquiry in the 1750s, and
this provides an outline of farming practice at that date. Typical crops were wheat, barley and
19
Combe Martin Local History Group 1989, 33, 34.
Site No. 1338.
21
DRO transcript of CR 1072, p2.
22
DRO transcript of CR 1195, p16.
23
Havinden 1974, 115, 132.
24
Burton 1953, 71.
20
10
oats, and the stock was mostly black cattle. Manuring tended to be with dung and sand, the
latter at the rate of ‘an hundred … in the acre’ at Alwington, the figure presumably referring
to seams or packhorse loads. The superiority of Welsh lime over English could be seen in the
Combe Martin response, which stated that 40 bushells of the former were reckoned to equal
60 of the latter. The warrens at Braunton Burrows and Woolacombe were said to provide
‘remarkably good’ and ‘very good’ rabbits respectively.
Overall map coverage begins in 1765 with Donn’s one-inch to the mile map of the county,
but its accuracy remains uncertain. While it shows Combe Martin to extend for about a mile,
only the churches are shown at Berrynarbor, Mortehoe and Georgeham, raising the question
of the extent of their nucleations at that date. Bucks Mills was not shown although the mill is
documented from 1431 and two houses on the Parkham side of the stream from the early
1600s (Sites 1692 & 2348).
Appreciation of coastal scenery is a relatively recent phenomenon. It may well have begun
among merchants, to whom the sea represented profits, as long as their ships were fully
insured, rather than being associated with sudden death in the course of wresting a hard living
from the elements. Thus, Thomas Kenney of Bideford is said to have bought Cornborough, in
Abbotsham parish, in 1750, and built a ‘summerbox’, 25 which was used as a navigation mark
(Site 293).26 Later that century Ilfracombe began to evolve as a resort, but other examples
actually within the survey area are hard to find for very many more years.
3.8 19th Century
By this period sale notices in the Exeter newspaper provide further indication of farming
practice. Exceptionally large was Stoke Barton farm in Hartland, comprising upwards of 540
acres in 1800, and extending to the coast, which ‘furnishes excellent Sea Sand and OreWeed’, while the ‘very convenient Quay or Wharf’ enabled the surplus corn to be shipped off
to ‘Bristol or any other Markets’.27
Complete coverage of the landscape begins with the Ordnance Survey’s two-inch to the mile
drawings from the first decade of the 19th century (although the fields were depicted in
stylised form) engraved at one-inch to the mile in 1809, which in theory shows every house,
although the west side of Bucks Mills appears very sparse. A fully accurate picture becomes
available with the tithe surveys of around 1840 which should show every isolated building in
rural areas, the best of which were mapped at three chains to the inch and distinguish by
colour between dwellings and other buildings. These large-scale maps show that the hamlet
remained common, many of which appear to have possessed greens, or at least areas that
originated as communal spaces, although not often acknowledged as such by the time of the
tithe surveys.
The 19th century saw substantial changes to the landscape, with the lead apparently being
taken by the larger landowners, initially involving their own properties. Watermouth Castle
and Walland Cary were newly built in the 19th century, the former with a carriage drive
extending for over two miles, and provided with milestones (Sites 1473, 1635). While the
historic mansions had been accompanied by barton farms close by, this was seen as
increasingly outdated by the landowners, and their surroundings were increasingly converted
25
Lomas 1956, 46.
Denham 1832
27
Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post 6.11.1800 1b.
26
11
into landscaped gardens, plantations and sporting preserves. Portledge’s barton farm was
removed in the 19th century and Saunton Court’s in the early 20th century.
Mining at Combe Martin continued to be intermittent, and with new steam age technology
draining to greater depths became more practicable, and it is from this period that the
structures survive.28 The end of lead mining came around 1880, and the last mineral to be
worked in the area appears to be umber, found in some of the limestone quarries and dried in
the 19th-century smelt mill.29
One North Devon farmer began an essay in 1860 with the sentence ‘It is often said that, as
regards civilization and agriculture, the farmers of North Devon are half a century behind
those of almost every other county in England’, but took the view that the reproach was no
longer justified.30 Certainly there were many changes that century. These largely took the
form of enclosure: of marshland (as at Braunton Marsh and Horsey Island), open downs
(such as Pickwell Down and Berry Down), and strip fields, the latter surviving long enough
to be shown on the Ilfracombe and Georgeham tithe maps, but Braunton Great Field
survived, to provide an example unique in southern England. Where the smaller enclosures
were concerned, the process remains surprisingly little documented. As farm sizes increased
it was possible for the better farmers to buy out those less able, and whereas the hamlets had
consisted of more or less equal-sized farms, over time they came to consist of the one
farmhouse with the rest becoming labourers’ cottages.
As regards recreation, in 1857 an advert for the ‘genteel spacious Residence’ of Peppercombe
included four cottages, of which two were ‘well adapted for lodging houses in the summer
season’,31 but Peppercombe has remained almost completely undeveloped to the present day.
This was a period when the first pocket guidebooks were becoming available and the middle
classes were just beginning to discover Clovelly, and Westward Ho! was about to become the
first attempted green-field development of a resort in the county, but not many would regard
it as entirely successful. The development of Woolacombe began later that century.
Ancillary activities along the seaboard during the 19th century were the coastguard service,
introduced in the 1820s purely for revenue protection, which led to coastguard stations and
watch houses being constructed at frequent intervals, but the service evolved into a rescue
service later that century, supplementing the lifeboat institution, which had led to four
lifeboat stations being constructed along the shore between 1848 and 1871. 32 Two
lighthouses had been constructed by 1832 at the southern extremity of Braunton Burrows to
guide mariners around the north side of Barnstaple Bar and, perhaps belatedly, lighthouses
were also constructed in the 1870s at Hartland Point and Bull Point (Sites 572, 1405, 1624 &
2554).
Detailed map coverage dates from the 1890s with the Ordnance Survey’s 1:2500 sheets,
showing structures such as wells and quarries, the latter, mostly for hedging stone, being
extensive throughout the area.
28
Site Nos 800, 1586.
Combe Martin Local History Group 1989, 52; Site No. 1581.
30
Mortimer 1860, 66.
31
Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post 21.5.1857 1e.
32
Farr 1966, 17, 54, 93, 109.
29
12
3.9 20th Century
Fishing could still provide a significant part of the local economy early on in the 20th
century, with 60 boats working from Clovelly and 16 from Bucks Mills, where there was less
shelter, and a higher degree of skill was required.33 In order to cope with the severe stresses
involved the boats, made in Appledore, were carvel-built (without overlapping planks).34 The
more westerly of the hamlet’s two limekilns continued to be used into this century, 35 but was
soon made redundant by the expansion in artificial fertilizers.
Mass tourism was to be very much a 20th-century phenomenon in Devon, not reaching the
north coast until the post-war period, which led to mansions such as Portledge, Pickwell and
Walland Cary being converted to provide visitor accommodation. Conservationists fought
unsuccessfully against a holiday camp development at Westward Ho! in 1939. The National
Trust had by then commenced its coastal acquisitions, with gifts of Morte Point, Baggy Point
and Kipling Tors at Westward Ho!.
At the start of World War II North Devon was designated a reception area for evacuees,
which led to some of the schools being reopened. When invasion threatened the measures
taken at Woolacombe were typical: ‘Wooden piles were driven into the sand to prevent
landings, barbed wire was spread on the sandhills, and cement blocks, to hinder the advance
of tanks, were set up’.36 As the tide of war turned, preparations for the assault on Europe
involved the North Devon coast, where conditions resembled those at Normandy. British
Commandos practised scaling the cliffs at Gallantry Bower, west of Clovelly, and the
Woolacombe Bay Hotel became the headquarters of the US Assault Training Centre, with
landings practiced on the coast down as far as Broad Sands. 37 Elsewhere the coast was used
for war-related experiments, involving the Combined Operations Experimental
Establishment, which was based around Appledore. This led to bizarre weapons, eventually
rejected, such as the ‘Great Panjandrum’ and the ‘Alligator’ that were intended to breach
Hitler’s Atlantic Wall being tested at Westward Ho!, where the tidal conditions and gradient
resembled those to be assailed.38 The Establishment was also involved with the more
successful ‘pipeline under the ocean’ (PLUTO), which was tested across the Bristol Channel,
coming ashore at Watermouth.39
With the return to peace, legislation was passed restricting development and designating
landscapes, leading to the creation of the North Devon AONB in 1960 and this has largely
preserved the scenic qualities of the area. Designation has not meant a freeze on all
development, leading to the building of housing estates on the edges of villages such as
Croyde, Georgeham and Combe Martin. Agriculture has been largely exempt from planning,
and as it has become more mechanised the traditional small fields were seen as increasingly
uneconomic. The number of horses on Hartland farms fell from 391 in 1939 to 55 in 1958,
and in the latter year there were still over 1500 acres under oats. 40 Both the horses and the
oats were soon to disappear, rendering stable buildings redundant.
33
Harris 1970.
Boyle 1952, 194.
35
ibid; site No. 2345.
36
Bidgood, n.d. 53.
37
Ellis 1987, 15; site No. 1547.
38
Pawle, G. 1956, 223, 225–6, 237.
39
Wasley 1994, 127.
40
Economist Intelligence Unit 1959, 34.
34
13
The writer Ronald Duncan, who had farmed organically at Mead in Welcombe parish during
the war, subsequently wrote, perhaps with considerable exaggeration, that he had removed
three miles of hedgerow leaving only the boundary bank. 41 On Braunton Great Field the
number of strips was reduced from 200 in 1951 to 86 in 199.42 The trend to larger farm units
elsewhere appears less noticeable here, perhaps because the buildings are capable of
conversion to residential use. The number of farmhouses abandoned during the century
appears to be very small indeed.
Tourism now rivals agriculture in its contribution to the economy and in high summer, the
caravan parks and campsites extend many miles out from Ilfracombe, leaving the west of the
area to the more discerning visitor.
4. THEMES AND SITE TYPES
4.1 Introduction
Until the medieval period the area of the North Devon AONB is likely to have been a
sparsely settled largely rural area. Nevertheless, it does contain important evidence for
archaeological activity, either below ground or as earthwork or structural evidence. In the
course of this work various themes have emerged which may inform and guide priorities for
further survey work and interpretation.
4.2 Settlement
The earliest evidence for settlement within the area is a Mesolithic shell midden found at
Westward Ho!. There are no indications of houses or buildings dating to the Neolithic period
or the Bronze Age, but the presence of funerary monuments, indicates that people were living
and working here at that time. During the Iron Age, evidence from other coastal hillforts in
the region indicates that these monuments contain the remains of houses and buildings within
the interiors, despite their exposed locations.
There is hardly any evidence for Romano-British activity in the area, although isolated finds
of this date have been made in various locations. Settlement in the area in the post-Roman
period is indicated by the surviving native British place names of Trellick and Cheristow in
Hartland parish.
During the medieval and post-medieval periods the pattern of small villages around a parish
church and isolated small farmsteads and hamlets was established. This layout survives
largely intact today.
4.3 Agriculture
The survey has established that for most of its history the North Devon AONB has been a
largely rural landscape reliant on agriculture, with the distinctive patterns of fields and many
of the farmsteads and hamlets present today originating during the medieval period. Braunton
Great Field is one of the best surviving medieval field systems in the country and the
distinctive ‘reverse-J’ field boundaries marking what were once the headlands of strip fields
survive elsewhere throughout the area. Other important features would have been the post-
41
42
Duncan 1944; 1952, 96.
Dyer 1994, 19.
14
medieval water-meadow systems that have been recognised in a number of locations from
early field names.
4.2 Religion
As with most rural communities, religion appears to have played an important role
throughout most periods. The earliest funerary monument is the possible Neolithic long
barrow at Abbotsham and there are the Bronze Age barrow cemeteries, including those at
Bursdon Moor and Berry Down. There are also numerous standing stones from this period
which would certainly have had religious importance.
Possibly the earliest evidence for a Christian religious site is the church of St Nectan in
Hartland, which may have originated as a Celtic monastery. Other possible early chapels
include examples at Cheristow and South Hole. During the medieval period the various
parish churches would have acted as the focal points for religion, but there are also records of
smaller chapels such as St Helen in Croyde and St Wardreda at Lee.
4.4 Fishing and saltworking
Despite its proximity to the coast there is only limited evidence for a community reliant on
the sea. The earliest evidence for fishing comprises possible Romano-British timber fish traps
in organic deposits at Westward Ho!. During the post-medieval period there is evidence for
small-scale fishing industries at Clovelly and Bucks Mill. Saltworking appears to have been
relatively small-scale, with documentary evidence suggesting that this activity was taking
place on the estuaries during the medieval period.
4.5 Industry and quarrying
The Mesolithic flint knapping floors (particularly those at Baggy Point) are arguably the
earliest evidence for industrial activity within the AONB, but it is not until much later when
larger–scale industry is recorded. This is mainly in Combe Martin parish where there are
significant remains relating to silver and lead mining, which were worked at intervals from
the medieval period through to the late 19th century. Lime burning within kilns was also an
important industry from the 16th century and there are many limekilns within the AONB,
particularly alongside the coast. Associated with the lime and construction industries are the
many references to quarries or pits on historic maps. Many of the rural field boundaries and
farm buildings will have been built from stone derived locally.
Interesting field name references are three of the ‘cinder-type’ in the Hardisworthy area.
Similar field names were recorded during research for the Blackdown Hills AONB Phase 1
survey, with subsequent archaeological investigation revealing the presence of a RomanoBritish iron-working site.43
4.6 Defensive and military sites
Some of the most important sites within the AONB are the large coastal Iron Age hillforts
such as Clovelly, Peppercombe and Newberry, which are the probably the earliest defended
sites within the area. The survey has highlighted the presence of a number of field names
throughout the AONB with elements such as ‘Bury’ or ‘Castle’ which suggest the former
presence of defended or earthwork sites. Where present, the date of these could range from
the prehistoric through to the medieval period.
43
Reed 1995.
15
Other defensive sites include field name and documentary references to English civil war
turnpikes. These include possible sites in Hartland and Berrynarbor (Sites 1945 and 2517).
There are also a number of sites dating to World War II, including pillboxes and tank traps,
as well as remains along the coast associated with the preparation for the D-Day landings.
5. FURTHER WORK
5.1 Introduction
At this level of survey it has not been possible to identify areas of unimproved land, where
the greater survival and quality of the archaeological resource might be anticipated. However,
it is likely that the common lands of Bursdon Moor and Milford have not been subjected to
modern intensive agricultural practices. The major woodland areas also have potential, in that
good survival of earthworks, structures or industrial deposits could be expected. In addition,
sites where specific management proposals might be needed have not been identified at this
stage, as these can only be confirmed during later field visits. However, the assessment has
identified a number of potential sites and themes which merit further work using either field
survey techniques or documentary research. Within the database these have been categorised
by perceived priority, with Category A site types of most value in terms of the themes
identified above, and to conform with the original survey aims and objectives. Numbers in
brackets refer to the approximate totals of previously recorded and new sites of each type
itemised in the database.
Category A site inspections
 Sites of former structures present c. 1840, including houses, barns, mills, limekilns
etc. (450+)
 Shrunken/deserted settlement sites (8)
 Significant artefact scatters (30+)
 Selected field systems (not itemised)
 Watermeadow features (20+)
 Possible sites of medieval deer parks (8)
 Boundary/standing/mile stones either recorded on early maps or by field name
evidence (60+)
 Possible early wells (5+)
 Non-scheduled/possible ploughed-out barrows (10 +)
 Possible enclosures/ring ditches (20 +)
 ‘Bury’, ‘Borough’, ‘Berry’ field names (60+)
 Other significant field names suggesting settlement, industry or earthworks (10+)
 Military sites (40+)
 Other significant landscape features (not itemised)
 Selected recorded non-scheduled sites visited more than seven years ago (not
itemised)
Category B site inspections
 Recorded quarries or mines (300+)44
 Artefact scatters where quantities are uncertain (not itemised)
 Other recorded wells (50+)
44
Mines and associated features in Combe Martin parish are not included as extensive research on these has
already been undertaken
16
5.2 Potential method for Phase 2 work
Field visits
For each site which has been earmarked for further investigation in the main database it is
suggested that a site inspection is undertaken with the following aims, as appropriate:
 Verification and identification of any potential archaeological remains
 Identification of any immediate management requirements
 Assessment of future management status
 Identification of interpretation potential in light of available public access
 Identification of more detailed requirements for survey or research
Follow-up work could include surface artefact collection, earthwork survey and targeted
trench or trial pit evaluation.
Documentary research
While the manuscript map coverage of the AONB area is sparse, there is other material with
the potential to shed light on the history of the area. The work of Professor Harold Fox has
demonstrated the potential of manorial documents to provide important new information on
settlement history, and while Hartland’s medieval documentation is exceptional, material of
later date can also be of value.
Transcripts are available in the Devon Record Office of some 16th- & 17th-century Court
Rolls of the manors of Goldworthy and Alwington, which between them extended for over
5km along the coast east of the stream at Bucks Mills, and also of East Hagginton manor,
which covered part of Berrynarbor parish. Deeds, principally leases, have also been
transcribed. Some of the Portledge documents are known to have been transcribed and
published by the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (4th Report).
Given that a Welsh manorial record has provided a strong indication of at least one Devon
limekiln being present by around 1550, it would seem appropriate to search for early
references on this side of the Bristol Channel.
Further searching of the published Inquisitions Post Mortem may yield an earlier date than
1431 for the mills that gave Bucks Mills its name.
There are known to be surveys and valuations held in the North Devon Record Office which,
because of the limitations of this survey, have not been examined. Even those from the 19thcentury have the potential to provide information on when structures such as mills went out
of use and when farms were merged, along with the function of the buildings of the surviving
farmsteads, which map evidence rarely provides.
While the 1566 survey of Dinham lands provides field names for the manor of Hartland very
much earlier than the tithe survey, determining their locations may well be problematical,
given that only an approximate indication of their size is available.
17
5.3 Possible site types for increased interpretation
The site categories highlighted for interpretation are largely based on our current knowledge
of the archaeology and history of the North Devon AONB landscape. It is also likely that
there would be sufficient public interest to make this worthwhile. Priorities may change
subject to any Phase 2 work undertaken.













Earthworks associated with deserted or shrunken settlement
The submerged forest and associated deposits at Westward Ho!
Standing, boundary and mile stones
Extant barrows (cemeteries and individuals)
Iron Age promontory forts
Early wells
Combe Martin mining evidence
Quarries
Limekilns
Deer Parks
Watermeadow features
World War 2 structures
Visible wrecks
The method of interpretation would largely depend on accessibility and visibility, but could
include leaflets, booklets, guided tours, display panels, reconstruction drawings and audio
guides. For many of the above categories issues such as health and safety and visitor impact
should be carefully considered.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The survey was funded by the North Devon AONB Partnership through Torridge District
Council and North Devon District Council. Thanks are due for the help of Dave Edgcombe
and Linda Blanchard of the AONB Partnership. The work was co-ordinated for Devon
County Council Historic Environment Service by Bill Horner and Graham Tait, and Faye
Glover of DCC kindly provided HER and mapping information. Research for this report has
been undertaken by Anthony Collings, Pru Manning, Jo Best, Theresa Rowell and John
Valentin. The MapInfo database was prepared by Pru Manning and Tony Ives.
The co-operation of the staff of the UK Hydrographic Office, the National Trust, the Devon
Record Office, the North Devon Record Office, the Devon & Exeter Institution and the
Westcountry Studies Library is gratefully acknowledged. Members of North Devon
Archaeological Society, Stephen Hobbs of Hartland Digital Archive and Professor Harold
Fox of the University of Leicester also provided help and advice.
18
SOURCES CONSULTED
Unpublished sources
Devon Record Office, Exeter
‘Plans of Sundry Farms in the several Parishes of Berrynarbor, East-Downe, & Ilfracombe in the County of
Devon The Property of Joseph Davie Esquire of Watermouth in the said County Surveyed & Planned by
William Bear of Bideford Devon in 1802’, Z17/3/2 [Referred to as Davie / Bassett Estate Map Book]
Berrynarbor Inclosure Award, 1811
‘A Map or Plan of Braunton Marsh, Velator Marsh, and Part of South Burrow … as allotted and divided by the
Commissioners under the Act of Inclosure, and of the Canals, Bridges, Watercourses and other Works
thereon by John Pascoe Surveyor, 1824’ [‘inrolled 16 August 1825’]
‘Plan of New Road at Hagginton Hill, Berrynarbor, 1837’, QS 113A/19/2
Inclosure Map of Combe Martin, 1866
Abbotsham Tithe Apportionment 1840, Tithe Map c. 1840
Alwington Tithe Apportionment 1837, Tithe Map 1838
Berrynarbor Tithe Apportionment 1839, Tithe Map 1840
Bittadon Tithe Apportionment 1839, Tithe Map 1840
Braunton Tithe Apportionment 1840, Tithe Map 1840
Clovelly Tithe Apportionment 1839, Tithe Map 1840
Combe Martin Tithe Apportionment 1842, Tithe Map 1843
Georgeham Tithe Apportionment 1839, Tithe Map c. 1840
Hartland Tithe Apportionment 1842, Tithe Map c. 1842
Ilfracombe Tithe Apportionment 1839, Tithe Map 1840
Kentisbury Tithe Apportionment 1839, Tithe Map 1840
Mortehoe Tithe Apportionment 1840, Tithe Map 1840
Northam Tithe Apportionment 1838, Tithe Map 1839
Parkham Tithe Apportionment 1840, Tithe Map 1840
Welcombe Tithe Apportionment 1841, Tithe Map 1842
Woolfardisworthy West Tithe Apportionment 1838, Tithe Map 1841
Transcript of 1798 Survey of the Manor of East Hagginton, CR 1185
Transcripts of Goldworthy Court Roll, CR 1195, 1210 & 1220
Transcripts of Alwington Court Roll, CR 1072, 1092
Transcript of Goldworthy Manor deed DD38451
Transcripts of Alwington Manor deeds DD38091, DD39163
North Devon Record Office, Barnstaple
Early 18th-century manuscript maps of Croyde & Putsborough, 3704M/E2/1–3
‘A Map or Plan of the Estates called Gallsham & Greenleek Situate in the Parish of Hartland … 1783 …’,
B170/180
‘Survey of Wester Titchbery in the Parish of Hartland … 1779’, TD146/E1
Devon County Historic Environment Record, Exeter
HER entries for AONB area, including Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 / 1:10,000
Ordnance Survey 1:2500 1st edition (1885–1889), digital version
Ordnance Survey 1:2500 2nd edition (1904–1906), digital version
19
RAF vertical aerial photographs
WESTERN PART OF AONB
Maps SS32SE, 32SW and part of 32NW, 42NW and 42SW
RAF run ref: 106G UK 1420 15 APR 46 F120//540 SQDN
RAF frames listed from north to south (north at top)
RAF frames listed numerical in order
3229-3235
3002-3006
4382-4390
3229-3235
3002-3006
4001-4004
4001-4004
4382-4390
5038-5045
5032-5045
5032-5037
5079-5089
5079-5089
Maps SS21NE, 21NW, 22NW, 22SE, 22SW
RAF run ref: 106G UK 1631 8 JUL 46 F36//MULTI (5) 540 SQDN
RAF frames listed from north to south
RAF frames listed numerical in order
4050-4062
2064-2089
2064-2089
4050-4062
5046-5060
5046-5060
5082-5094
5064-5077
5064-5077
5082-5094
5121-5130
5121-5130
5183-5191
5183-5191
5196-5206
5196-5206
EASTERN PART OF AONB
Maps SS43NW, 44SW and part of 44NW, 43NE (North half), 44NE, 44SE, 54NW, 54SW, 54NE, 54SE, 64NW
and 64SW
RAF run ref: 106G/UK 1655 11 JUL 46 F120//540 SQDN
RAF frames listed from north to south
RAF frames listed in
numerical order
West part of map area
East part of map area 3003-3005
3028-3030
3167-3175
3028-3057
4023-4024
3031-3054
3141-3152
4267
4025-4029
3167-3175
4272
1092-1098
4003-4005
3135-3141
3037-3042
4023-4029
4131-4133
4273-4278
4123-4133
4128-4130
4256-4266
4138-4144
4138-4141
4245-4256
4192-4195
3128-3129
4279-4282
3003-3005
3141-3152
4003-4005
4125-4127
4192-4195
4123-4124
3398-3403
4142-4144
4391-4400
3055-3057
4383-4384
4243-4241
Maps: SS42NE, 42SE, 43NE (South half) and 43SE
RAF run ref: 106G/UK 1501 13 MAY 46 F120//541 SQDN
RAF frames listed from north to south
RAF frames listed numerical in order
3006-3010
3006-3010
4006-4010
4006-4010
4196-4200
4196-4200
1999/2000 AP
20
Hydrographic Office, Taunton
Views
‘General view of coast near Hartland Point and Lundy Island Lthouse’, by Capt. The Hon. F.C.P. Vereker, 1896,
HO Microfiche Folio 1A, item 8, page 8
‘Hartland Point and Quay, Hartland Point E by N and Ilfracombe’, annotated by Lieut. H.M. Denham (for the
Barnstaple Sheet), 18 Jan 1833, HO Microfiche Folio 1B, item 62, page 62
Admiralty Charts
‘Hartland Pt. to Combemartin, including Lundy Island and Barnstaple’, by Lieut. H.M. Denham, 1832, HO
H765
‘Lundy I to Watchet & Burry Inlet to Barry I’, by M. Mackenzie, 1771, corrected by Spence, 1808, HO 640
‘R. Taw & Torridge with sections’, by Com. G.M. Aldridge 1855, HO D1824
‘Cleave Cross Pt to Hartland Pt’, by Lieut. W.L. Sheringham and Mr. J. Wood, 1839, HO L8929
‘Morte B & Bull Pt’, by S.G. Stanley, 1879, HO A6585
‘Trevose Hd to Morte Pt including Lundy I, by M. Mackenzie, 1772, corrected by G. Spence, 1808, HO 643
Westcountry Studies Library, Exeter
Dean Milles Questionnaire
Ordnance Survey 2-inch Drawings No. 30 (1804–7), 31W & 31E, (1804–5)
Index to Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post
1851 Census
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Bidgood, R.F. n.d. Two Villages: the Story of Mortehoe and Woolacombe.
Blake, A.J.A. 1964 Berrynarbor: A Short History and Introduction to the Village.
Bovett, R. 1989 Historical Notes on Devon Schools, Devon County Council.
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Devon … [Westcountry Studies Library Anthony Langham collection].
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Donn, B. A Map of the County of Devon 1765 (1965 edition, reprinted by the Devon and Cornwall Record
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Duncan, R. 1944 Journal of a Husbandman.
—— 1952 Jan at the Blue Fox.
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North Devon.
Edmonds, E.A., Williams, B.J. & Taylor, R.T. 1979 Geology of Bideford and Lundy Island.
Ellis, S. 1987 Down a Cobbled Street: the Story of Clovelly.
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Finberg, H.P.R. 1944 ‘The Bounds of Abbotsham’, Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, XXII Part IX,
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