NORTH DEVON

ARCHAEOLOGICALSOCIETY

ISSUE 5 SPRING 2003

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June Aiken (Parracombe Group) 01598 763316Sally Cotton (South Molton and District LocalHistory Society) 01769 572378 Janet Daynes (ACE Archaeology, Winkleigh andDistrict) 01837 83925Jane Green (NDAS Treasurer and MembershipSecretary) 01271 866662Terry Green (NDAS Newsletter) 01271 866662Collette Hall (NDDC Conservation Officer)01271 346436Sean Hawken (Community Landscapes Project)01392 263851Colin Humphreys (NDAS Projects Manager)01271 882152Jim Knights (Brayford and Charles Group)01598 710014Deborah Laing-Trengove (Hatherleigh HistoryGroup) 01837 810310Alistair Miller (NDAS Secretary) 01598 740359Alison Mills (Museums Service) 01271 346747Jenny Yendall (Tiverton Archaeological Group)01884 255397Lyn Walmesley (Teign Archaeology Group andSecretary CBA South-West) 01392 432184Kes Webb (Combe Martin Silver Mines Researchand Preservation Society) 01271 850349Rob Wilson-North (Exmoor National ParkAuthority Archaeologist) 01398 323665

NDAS Officers 2003-4:Chairman: Terry GreenVice-Chairman: Ann MandryMeetings and Correspondence Secretary: Alistair MillerTreasurer and Membership Secretary: Jane GreenProjects Director: Colin HumphreysFund Raiser: Richard Beer

Other Committee Members:June Aiken, Rosemary Akers, Sally Cotton, HarryCramp, Janet Daynes, Trevor Dunkerley, JimKnights, Jonathan Lomas, Alison Mills, ChrisPreece, Kes Webb, Rob Wilson-North, MaureenWood

Associate Committee Members:Ann Adams, Sue Scrutton, Cllr Derek Spear

Publications CommitteeTerry Green, Colin Humphreys, Alison Mills

Other Archaeological Bodies:Devon County Sites and Monuments Register01392 382246Council for British Archaeology (York) 01904 671417National Sites & Monuments Record (Swindon)01793 414600

Useful information Useful contacts

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23rd September: 6.00pm, launch of Dr Alison Grant’snew book on North Devon pottery. NDAS membersare invited, but contact North Devon Museum nearerthe time to confirm date and time.

27th and 28th September: Fish-weir survey

For more information phone :

Fish-weir survey – Chris Preece on 01237 475368

Holworthy field-boundaries – Terry Green on 01271866662

Holworthy Excavation – Colin Humphreys on 01271882152

CLP at Hartland – Sean Hawken on 01392 263851

Events in Combe Martin - Trevor Dunkerly on 01271883833

Events at Museum – 01271 346747)

Don’t forget, we still meet on the second Tuesday ofthe month at the Chichester Arms, Bishops Tawton,about 8.00pm for informal conversation.

The DAS Summer Programme

11th May: CBASW coach trip to Martin Green’sFarm, Salisbury Area (Lynne Walmesley 01392432184)

18th May: DAS coach trip to Stonehenge £15(Janet Cambridge, 20 Devon Terrace, Plymouth PL34JD)

15th June: DAS coach trip to South Cadbury £12(Janet Cambridge as above)

6th July: Return visit to Leigh Barton £2.50 (JanetCambridge as above)

10th August: Field Visit to Silchester £15 (contactDAS secretary Lorinda Legg 01837 840326)

19th to 21st September: Field Weekend on theIsle of Wight £160 (Lorinda Legg as above)

Dates for Your Diary

10th and 11th May: Field Boundary Survey atHolworthy Farm, Parracombe.

17th and 18th May: Field Boundary Survey and/ortest-pitting at Holworthy Farm, Parracombe.

Also on 17th and 18th May, if you prefer to bebeside the sea, fish-weir survey, meeting at theWhite House (Braunton Marsh) at 12.00 midday.

5th June: Exmoor National Park guided walk atParracombe: An Exploration of Exmoor’s Hedges -the History and Ecology of Field Boundaries.11.00a.m. to 4.00p.m. Meeing in layby at SS669458(Higher Bodley). Stout footwear and weatherproofclothing. (This walk arises partly from ourfield-boundary survey. NDAS members areinvolved.)

17th June: Beaches, breaches and Old Cows - arepeat of last year’s popular archaeological walk onPorlock Beach, led by Rob Wilson-North. 2.00p.m. to4.30 p.m. Meet Porlock Weir car park. Packed lunchand stout footwear. Booking essential 01643863150.

21st and 28th June: Community LandscapesProject: Earthworks Survey at Hartland.

29th June: NDAS visit to Cothay Manor, Wellington,Somerset.

19th July: National Archaeology Day: ‘Roman’displays and demonstrations at Brayford Village Hall.(See local press or phone Museum of North Devon)Plus various events in Combe Martin.

30th and 31st August: Fish-weir survey.

14th to 19th July: Excavation at Holworthy Farm,Parracombe.

13th September: Training Day at the Museum ofNorth Devon: Pottery handling and recognition,10.00 am

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Don’t forget that, as an NDAS member, you areentitled to free access to the huge range ofhistorical resources available at the North DevonRecord Office in Barnstaple Library. This office,part of Devon County Council’s archives service,cares for a comprehensive legacy of writtenheritage stretching back to the twelfth century,and makes these records available for publicinspection in its well-equipped searchroom. Onyour first visit, you will be asked to complete aregistration form and your details will be enteredon to the Record Office’s computer database ofusers. On showing your NDAS membership card,you will be added to the Society’s group ticket andallowed access to a veritable treasure trove ofhistorical information relating to North Devon andfurther afield. There are comprehensive findingaids, such as catalogues of collections and cardindexes arranged by place, subject and personalnames, which will readily enable you to identifydocuments of interest. These can then berequested from the Record Office strongroom foryou to look at.

Collections of records held by the North DevonRecord Office include local parish records, recordsof local councils, families, estates and businesses,maps and plans (including the nineteenth centurytithe maps for the whole county of Devon), landtax assessments, title deeds, wills andphotographs. In addition, the Record Office hascombined its resources with Devon Library andInformation Services and the North DevonAthenaeum to provide a comprehensive localstudies facility in Barnstaple Library. Thesedepartments provide access to related sources,such as the nineteenth century census returns,

Ordnance Survey maps, published books andjournals and a large number of transcripts andindexes of parish registers and census returns, allunder the same roof.

The North Devon Local Studies Centre is openMonday to Friday from 9.30am to 5.00pm (exceptWednesday, when it closes at 1.00pm). TheLibrary section of the Centre is also open everySaturday from 9.30am to 4.00pm, joined by theRecord Office on the 2nd and 4th Saturday eachmonth (these dates may alter from time to time,so it is best to check before visiting). Originaldocuments cannot be produced from the RecordOffice strongroom between 12.00 and 2.00pm,although items can be ordered in advance if youwill be arriving over this period. It is advisable toreserve a microfilm viewer for certain sources thatare available in this format only (telephone 01271388607 for bookings or advice).

Remember that your NDAS membership cardcan also be used to access the resources of theDevon Record Office headquarters in Exeter.

Using the North Devon Record OfficeTim Wormleighton

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Editorial - NDAS and the ‘Big Picture’

Membership Subscription

Fieldwork - Summer 2003

The Archaeology of some North DevonPlace-Names - Terry Green

‘Roman’ North Devon

Brayford Children take on ‘the Romans’ -Chris Preece

Archaeology in Combe Martin - TrevorDunkerley

Fishweirs Update - Chris Preece

An ACE Winter - Janet Daynes

ACE Hacksilver Workshop - Gordon Fisher

CLP at Hartland - Sean Hawken

News from Barnstaple Heritage Centre -Maureen Wood

Barnstaple Excavations Publication: anUpdate - Alison Mills

Torrington Museum - Brian Cole

Using the North Devon Records Office - TimWormleighton

Dates for your Diary

Contents

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working sites at Brayford and Sherracombe Ford issymbolic of that change, but is by no means thewhole story. The Exmoor iron-working project isthe result of a co-operation between the ExmoorNational Park Authority and the University ofExeter. It belongs within a context of new researchprompted by both bodies and for which theEnglish Heritage publication The FieldArchaeology of Exmoor provides a base-line. This,in turn, belongs in the context of the University’sGreater Exmoor Project which pushes the area ofresearch out well beyond the National Parkboundaries. At the same time, a joint effort by theCounty Council and the University (with thesupport of the Heritage Lottery Fund) hasproduced the Community Landscapes Project,which deliberately looks away from from theclassic moorland areas and directs attentiontowards the relatively neglected, but veryimportant surrounding ‘lowland’. Currently theCLP is concentrating its efforts on the Hartlandarea.

It will be evident from this emerging structurethat the focus is on broadly based landscapeprojects which embrace evidence ranging from thedetailed examination of peat cores to theconsideration of whole field and settlementsystems. For the statutory bodies, ‘HistoricEnvironment’ has become the watch-word andthe term serves well enough to embrace thepurposes of archaeologists at large. Against thisbackground, local archaeological societies have anewly meaningful role to play. Primarily thespecial contribution of local societies is that theycontain people who know their locality intimately,are dedicated and are in a position to make day-

With contributions from groups and individualsvariously working within the sphere ofarchaeology and the Historic Environment inNorthern Devon, this eclectic edition appears at ajuncture where bodies such as Exmoor NationalPark and Devon County Council are reviewingtheir strategy for the historic environment. In thisprocess of review we have been asked to make acontribution in the form of comments orsuggestions, which is both encouraging and a cueto think about the role and purpose of the NorthDevon Archaeological Society.

When I first took an interest in the activities ofNDAS, the northern parts of Devon represented apuzzling gap on distribution maps and had a lowprofile in the literature. This was not for lack ofarchaeology. Frances Griffith’s aerial coverage ofthe whole county showed that prehistoric siteswere abundant in the area; while long-standingstudies such as those of Hoskins and Finberg andmore recently Harold Fox indicated that there wasan intriguing story of medieval settlement to betraced in the landscape. Literature was not entirelylacking. There was Grinsell’s Archaeology ofExmoor and there was Susan Pearce’s TheKingdom of Dumnonia plus her interesting studyof churches in the North Devon landscape. Whenthe Historical Atlas of the South-West appeared in1999, it was refreshing to find detaileddistribution maps and some novel studiesembracing northern Devon. Then, of course, therewas the long awaited and very welcomepublication of The Field Archaeology of Exmoor(English Heritage).

Now things have moved on in the field too.The recent discovery of Romano-British iron-

Editorial:

NDAS and the ‘Big Picture’

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archives (principally from the North Devon RescueUnit and Trevor Miles’ excavations), and to assessthe large quantity of research and writing upalready completed. Tim, together with colleaguesspecialising in different areas, has since been backto assess a selection of the pottery.

The feasibility study will result in a projectdesign for the final publication, and grantapplications will have to be made to carry out thework – which may take several years. Oneimportant part of the project is, however, alreadywell on track, with Alison Grant planning topublish an update of her book on North DevonPottery in September this year. Funded throughthe Tarka Millennium Awards scheme, Alison’sdocumentary research is a crucial resource foranyone studying North Devon Pottery.

Representatives from the Society are part of asupport group, which first met last July at theunveiling of the reconstructed Tuly Street kiln, andagain in October to hear how the project wasprogressing. We hope to meet again in late Mayor early June to hear from Exeter Archaeologyabout progress on the project. If any memberswould like to be part of the group, please contactAlison Mills at the Museum.

Torrington Museum is a non-themed collection ofdiscoveries and bygones presenting an informalpicture of the life of this small Devon town overthe centuries. It celebrates some of its morefamous visitors and residents through small,carefully selected exhibits and recalls the events ofthe town’s history.

The visitor will find, for example, a Victorianparlour and kitchen complete with harmonium,grandfather clock, iron Bodley cooking range,

wash boiler, great mangle and the utensils weassociate with them. From earlier still is acomplete clay ‘cloam’ oven such as is usuallyfound tucked away in a cottage inglenook.

A fine collection of C17 to modern portraitsdepicts members of the Rolle Family, while smallerexhibits record Sir Joshua Reynolds’ visits torelatives in Torrington, as well as the work of theRev.W.Keble Martin, whose meticulous ‘ConciseBritish Flora’ has long been an essential referencefor botanists and countryside enthusiasts. (Anunfinished page of work interrupted by his death,is on display.)

Torrington’s working history is represented bycollections of equipment linked to the sadly nowdiscontinued dairying industry in the town (clottedcream was regularly supplied to Harrods!); and tothe making of gloves – another major localenterprise, now in decline.

A ‘favourite son’ was Thomas Fowler, acontemporary of John Babbage and his rival in thedesign of calculating machinery. (Babbageadmitted to preferring Fowler’s approach). Modelsof his machine are on display.

Other exhibits record local transport by roadand the now defunct railway, the centuries ofproduction of local pottery, the geology of thearea and, for the 2003 season, a specialexhibition recalling the impact of World War 2 onthe town and its inhabitants.

Most importantly, the museum maintains anextensive archive of the families, businesses andbuildings of this unusual small Devon markettown, and can often help with family trees andancestor research.

Run entirely by volunteers, the museum isfunded only by local authority and charity grantsand by visitor donations. Admission is free. A visitbetween 19th May and the end of September willsatisfy the curious!

Torrington MuseumBrian Cole

Most members will know that the Society,together with other interested groups andindividuals, has been encouraging the publicationof the Barnstaple excavations. The most significantmaterial, identified by the Mediaeval potteryResearch Group as one of the most importantunpublished excavations in the country, relates tothe kilns excavated in Tuly Street.

The collection held at the Museum ofBarnstaple and North Devon consists of several

thousand boxes of pottery and other material, andalso includes the results of other work carried outaround the town in the 1970s and 1980s.

This is a vast project, and Exeter Archaeologyhave already spent several years agreeing a brieffor the Feasibility Stage with English Heritage.Approval was finally given around Christmas, andExeter Archaeology began work earlier this year.

Archaeologist and potter Tim Gent wasappointed to carry out a survey of the excavation

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Barnstaple Excavations Publication- AnUpdateAlison Mills

The reconstructed pottery kiln in the Museum of North Devon. The reconstruction is based on mid-17thcentury remains found on the site of Barnstaple Library and on experimental firings undertaken by theBickley Ceramics Project.

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by-day, season-by-season observations not readilyavailable to those working at a ‘higher’ level.Organised together to conduct long-term projectssuch as our Parracombe Project or our recordingof fish-weirs as well as Winkleigh’s ‘HouseDetectives’ project, local groups are in a positionto provide a level of research which representsdetailed groundwork and which ultimately addsup to the ‘big picture’. It is a strength of NDASthat we are both able to reach out to a growingnumber of interested local people and have agood proportion of members with archaeologicalqualifications who form the bridge between theSociety and the academic community. We are in avery favourable position to fulfil the Society’s Aimsand Objectives:

By pursuing these objectives through focusedprojects we are helping to expand the data-basefor future research and to secure the protection ofthe historic environment. Terry Green

Nothing gets done without people doing it!

Field work volunteers are needed.

See the Volunteer Form included with this edition.

Membershipsubscription

At the Society’s AGM in March, the membershipsubscription was discussed. At the present level of£8.00 per head, which is low compared withother comparable organisations, we scarcelybreak even. The scale of the Society’s activities hasgrown in the last two years, so that thesubscription now has to cover the costs ofproducing two substantial newsletters a year, hireof premises for talks, insurance and affiliationfees, a subscription to the North Devon RecordsOffice, officers’ expenses and the cost ofmaterials. In addition, if we are to continue toattract quality speakers to our winter meetings,we must recognise that today a fee is oftenexpected (in addition to expenses) in recognitionof the speaker’s time and effort.

Consequently it was agreed at the AGM that theannual membership subscription should be raisedto a realistic level of £12.00 per head with theusual pro rata reductions for joint (£18.00),student and junior membership (£3.75) and forlate-joining new members (£6.00). This will beeffective from April 2004.

will take place during May. The weekends of10th-11th May and 17th-18th May areproposed. Field-boundary survey amounts to awalk in very pleasant surroundings with a clearpurpose in mind and clip-board in hand ( a bit likegolf, but with a more informative result). The morevolunteers we have, the more likely it is that wecan complete the boundaries of Holworthy Farmin one weekend, which would mean that on thesecond weekend we could go on to dig test-pitsat the site of Higher Holworthy. As for the‘hillslope enclosure’, the results of Ross Dean’srecent magnetometry survey encourage us to takea closer look at the features which they suggest.We propose, therefore, to undertake a furtherexcavation on the enclosure this year. This will

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Fieldwork, Summer 2003:

ParracombeThe first priority this summer is to continue withour investigation of the Parracombe landscape. AtHolworthy Farm, where we began work last year,we intend to conclude our survey by recording thefield-boundaries and test-pitting at theabandoned site of Higher Holworthy as well asnext to the Holworthy farmhouse itself. During lastyear Dr Ralph Fyfe of Exeter University took coresfrom a spring-mire within the farm in order totrack changes in land-use over time. And later thisyear, Chris Carey, also of Exeter University, will betaking soil-samples from the area of the hillslopeenclosure for geochemical analysis. During MarchRoss Dean conducted a magnetometry survey onthe hillslope enclosure with very interestingresults. These have encouraged us to plan afurther excavation on the enclosure this July. Bythe end of the year, therefore, we shall have datafrom a variety of surveys as well as fromexcavation, which will enable us to begin tounderstand landscape development on this fringeof the parish.

From Holworthy, we shall move to the otherside of the parish to West Middleton Farm. Havingpreviously surveyed the field-boundaries of EastMiddleton, it makes sense to look at the otherhalf of what was probably a single unit until themid-15th century, a unit which represents thesecond largest of the Domesday manors ofParracombe.

This summer, therefore…The first requirement is to do the field-boundarysurvey. Since increasing growth of vegetationmakes it more difficult, this is now a priority and

Ross under cover: the mysterious business ofdownloading data on a bright day in the field.

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Medieval Barnstaple: A cloth seller in Barnstaple’s medieval market. In the background, a mural with aview of Cross Street looking towards the West Gate.

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News from Barnstaple Heritage CentreMaureen Wood

Recently the exhibits in the Heritage Centre haveundergone many changes. Extensive research andmuch hard work have gone into the new projects,some of which will continue into the year ahead.The whole of the refurbishment has beenundertaken by the centre’s Project Manager JulieParker, ably assisted by the Commercial ManagerDenise Teague, and a willing band of volunteers.During the three-week closure of the centre’sexhibitions, a Saxon hut and a scene depictingBarnstaple’s Mediaeval market were constructed.The building echoed to the sounds of sawing,hammering, and the splish-splosh of paint-brushes mingled with the odd mild expletive.Along the colonnade of ‘Queen Anne’s Walk’great activity took place in a biting wind, with thecutting and bundling of huge amounts of strawthat was eventually to be used in the creation ofthatched roofing for the dwellings surroundingthe market scene. Much of the proverbialmidnight oil was burnt, and great credit is due tothose who took part for the quality of theirachievement and for such rapid progress towardsre-opening.

The New Displays:The construction of the Saxon Hut is completed.The contents will be in place by Easter and, aswell as basic furnishings, will include a muralrepresenting Saxon Barnstaple; a text-boardreferring to the mint at Barnstaple, silver etc.; life-size figures of a Saxon silver worker Byhrsige, andhis wife Elgitha with push buttons giving accessto their conversation.

In the Medieval Market scene, thatchedhouses line the High Street with market stalls

surrounding the area at High Cross. There is amural of Croke (Cross) Street looking towards theWest Gate and the Quay. This is is set behindmarket stalls and portrays potters and craftsmen.There are figures of market gossip Mistress Joanand a woodcarver. Press-buttons give access toinformation. A further figure speaking from anupstairs window will be in place by Easter as willmany other features and textboards.

Future Developments:Plans are already in place to redevelop themerchant ship area. The floor will be planked,there will be background sounds, a cabin boy,additions to cargo etc. All with the addition ofpush-button information. This development shouldtake place in the next few months. The Civil WarTrench is also under review for improvement.

Footnote:Much research on Barnstaple Market has turnedup some fascinating details. Eventually theHeritage Centre will be producing a bookletdetailing some of the facts and history of theMarket.

In the meantime, to fully appreciate all thehard work that has been put into the new exhibitsplease come and visit them at Barnstaple HeritageCentre. You will not be disappointed!

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Trips:Some members have complained that the Societyno longer arranges summer visits to places ofinterest. We stopped doing this because supportwas embarrassingly poor, but with our nowexpanded membership perhaps the situation haschanged. Ann Mandry has kindly agreed toarrange a visit to Cothay Manor ( a well preservedexample of a medieval manor house) nearWellington provisionally for 29th June. This will goahead if there is sufficient support.

If you would like to join the visit to CothayManor, please fill in the form included with thisnewsletter and return it Ann.

take place during July and will last a week.Proposed dates are Monday 14th to Saturday19th July, but contact Colin (01271 882152) toconfirm this.

Work at West Middleton will begin in latesummer. Phone Colin for details..

Fishweirs:Volunteers have been out twice this year withChris Preece to track down and record remnantsof fish-weirs. This is only feasible at the lowesttides. If you are able and willing to help, contactChris on 01237 475368. (For dates, see Dates foryour Diary)

Holworthy Magnetometry: Preliminary result of the magnetometry survey conducted by Ross Dean onthe Holworthy “hillslope enclosure”. Overlaid on the plot are the earthworks previously recorded byEnglish Heritage.

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The Archaeology of some North Devon Place-NamesTerry Green

Our place-names are a record of our ancestors’diverse experience of their landscape and are oneway in which they speak to us directly. Most ofthe place-names that we find on the map wereestablished before the 12th century and becausethey were coined in Old English and have beendistorted by usage, they now appear obscure andsometimes even comical. To those who first spokethem, however, they were clear references tofeatures of the land that they inhabited. And forthis reason, an understanding of their significanceis a useful tool for the archaeologist. Below are afew reflections on some North Devon place-names. (Interpretations are based on Gover,Mawer and Stenton: Place-Names of Devon,1932)

Marwood (DB 1086: Meroda/Merehoda/Mereudarepresenting, probably, Old Englishgemære+wudu ‘boundary wood’.)

Marwood stands on a ridge among a smallcluster of woodland names on the boundarybetween Braunton and Shirwell Hundreds. TheDoomsday record implies that before theConquest, Braunton and Shirwell were a unit, sothat a boundary must at some date have beendrawn between them. It is common for boundariesto be drawn through areas of upland grazing or, asin this case, woodland. Nearby runs Mare Lanewhich also seems to contain the ‘boundary’element, and just across the parish boundary moreor less at the point where Marwood, Shirwell andEast Down Parishes meet is Plaistow (Old Englishpleg-stow ‘playing place’) This name isconventionally interpreted as something like

‘sports ground’. It is worth considering, however,that the ‘play’ involved may in origin have beenceremonial rather than mere amusement. TheCornish plen-an-gwary also means ‘playing place’,but represents the location of traditional seasonalperformances. On the hilltop above PlaistowBarton is a ringwork, which may be the ‘playing-place’ itself, and at this point in the landscapemay represent a ceremonial meeting-place on ornear to an important boundary.

Landkey(First record 1166: Landechei)

Like related names in Cornwall, this representsCornish lan+de+Cai ‘church of (your) Cai’. Cai wasa Cornish saint. The name is one of the smallnumber of surviving purely Celtic names in Devon.The cornish lan, Welsh llan has come to meanchurch, but originally meant a sacred enclosure.The traditional lan or llan was a circular or ovalenclosure reserved for burials and religiouspurposes. In some cases this shape has beenpreserved in the boundaries of churchyards. This isnot the case at Landkey, but at Parracombe theold church, dedicated to Saint Petrock, anotherCeltic saint, has a partly curving boundary. Thereare numerous ‘Celtic’ church dedications in theNorth Devon and North Somerset coastal regionfrom Saint Nectan at Hartland to Saint Dubriciusat Porlock. We cannot be certain how old thesededications are, but it seems clear that the nameof Landkey records a Celtic dedication from a timewhen Cornish or West Welsh was still spoken inNorth Devon, and implies that a settlement waspresent here before the Western Celtic Churchhad been swamped by Catholic orthodoxy.

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have the support of the Hartland Society, we arealways on the look out for more help. For many,this will be a good opportunity to get somehands-on experience of surveying.

The dates we have in mind are Saturday21st June and/or Saturday 28th June; themeeting place to be advised. So please comealong and join in. If you would like to participatein this survey, then please call the CLP office on01392 263851 or email me ats.d.hawken@exeter.ac.uk (web address:http://www.ex.ac.uk/devonclp)

In addition, one of the Community LandscapesProject volunteers, namely Doug Hislop, has been

applying his IT skills to the maintenance of theCLP Web site and has also produced the firstNorth Devon Archaeological Society web page! Atthe moment this is limited to one page, but asfurther information is supplied to the CLP, thenyou should be able to access newsletters, finddates for events etc, all with a mouse-click. This isjust part of the support offered by the CommunityLandscapes Project.

To access NDAS’s first web-page, go to:http://www.ex.ac.uk/projects/devonclp, thensimply click the button for ‘links’ to access ‘NorthDevon Archaeological Society’. As things progress,we will create a more direct link, but at least it’s

One of the raised, building platforms in need of survey and recording.

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CommunityLandscapes Project atHartland(plus something new for NDAS!)

Sean Hawken (CLP Project Manager)In the Autumn 2002 edition of the NDASNewsletter, Sean Hawken described the CommunityLandscapes Project and pointed out for theparticular attention of NDAS members, that one ofthe areas singled out for study is Hartland Moors.Work here is now getting underway, and we havereceived the following from Sean:

Although the Community Landscapes Projectarchaeological survey work for the parishes ofHartland, Clovelly and Woolfardisworthy (Woolsery)has yet to get fully underway, we have made agood start on the palaeoenvironmental side of ourresearch. We owe a very big thankyou to Mick andKath Browne of Clifford Farm Holiday Cottages asthey treated Charlotte and me to a lovely stay inone of their cottages, as a result of which we wereable to get an early start. We managed to findsuitably deep boggy, spring mires in the parishes ofHartland and Woolfardisworthy, and so, within thetwo days, we collected all three cores required forpollen analysis. We would like to say thankyou to R.Cleave, Leslie and Ann Deadman and Brian andWendy Heard for allowing us access to their landand the opportunity to take the cores we needed.

Further work is still required and will firstlyinvolve volunteers in the recording of the springmires from which the cores were taken. Secondly,whilst searching for suitable palaeoenvironmentalsites, we stumbled across two previously unknownsites with relic building platforms, possiblyrepresenting deserted medieval farmsteads. Theseearthworks, both in Hartland, will need surveying.We therefore require the assistance of volunteersfrom North Devon. Whilst this undertaking does

therefore likely to break when bent. Theapplication of heat relaxes the metal again, sothat it bends without snapping.

Some of the braver souls opted to make bothcopper and silver bracelets, and I must say thatwhen they were finished they looked absolutelywonderful. There was a wide range of ages andabilities present on the day and I think that it is agreat compliment to Benny’s teaching thateverybody managed to make at least one item, ifnot two, in the time available.

On behalf of all those who attended the clip/hack silver day, I should like to thank Benny. Wethoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!

*Hack-silver (German: Hacksilber) – artefacts ofsilver plundered and broken up for bullion,recasting, etc. (TG)

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Parkham (First recorded DB 1086: Percheham. From OldEnglish pearroc + hamm: a tautology becauseboth elements mean ‘enclosure’.)

This is an interesting name from a landscapepoint of view. A look at OS Explorer Series 126,SS35-20 & 36-20-) reveals at Parkham Ash, abouttwo kilometres from Parkham, a neatly definedcluster of fields which clearly reflect medieval stripcultivation contained within a shape rather like ashoe-print. The fields around the Parkham Ashsettlement appear to address the boundary of anoval enclosure on a low spur. In Devon the OldEnglish hamm, which elsewhere signifies ‘landbounded by water’, frequently has the sense of‘land taken in from moorland’. In the case ofParkham Ash, the oval on the spur is shown onthe First Edition OS 6’ map (Fig.1) surrounded byunimproved grassland; and Ash sits together withKerswell among blocks of strip fields adjacent towhich is Moor Farm. At Parkham itself, on theother hand there is none of this. It is possible tosuggest that the oval is the Old English pearroc,

while the field system around Ash and Kerswell isthe hamm, the pearroc being older; and that thecombined name Park-ham has migrated acrossthe landscape to where to the manorial centreand its Norman church now stand.

King’s, Bishop’s and George Nympton(King’s and Bishop’s Nympton were first recordedin DB 1086 as Nymeton(a), George Nympton asLimet, later as Nimet. Queen’s Nympton is a 19thcentury creation.)

The Nympton parishes lie adjacent to the RiverMole and it is suggested by Ekwall (OxfordDictionary of English Place-names , 4th edition1960, 346) that Nymet is an old name for theMole (Mole being a back-formation from Molton).It appears, however, that the Nymptons togethermay represent an ancient large land unit fromwhich the river took its earlier name. In the Saxonperiod this was a royal estate, of which part wasgranted to the Bishop of Exeter. If all of theNymptons represent a single large early estate, itwould be quite characteristic for it to be named

Fig.1: Parkham Ash, as it appears on the First Edition OS 6” map of 1889. (Courtesy NDRO)

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‘Roman’ North Devonin 2002(a compilation)

As reported in the Exmoor National Park HistoricEnvironment Review, 2002 saw the first full yearof activity for the Exmoor Iron Project, a four-yearfieldwork programme jointly run by ExmoorNational Park Authority, the ArchaeologyDepartment of Exeter University and the NationalTrust with funding and support from EnglishHeritage.

(The following is a précis of the report of MartinGillard and Gill Juleff appearing in the ExmoorHistoric Environment Review) The highlight of2002 was the summer excavation season atSherracombe Ford. Sherracombe Ford lies near thehead of the Sherracombe/Brayford Valley in acontext of open moorland, wooded combes andancient trackways. The site comprises double andsingle platforms cut into a steep valley-side.Below are mounds of iron-slag, finds from whichhad already suggested late Iron Age/Romano-British industrial activity. The aim of the 2002 digwas to investigate one of the larger platforms andits adjacent slag-heap to establish the nature ofthe activity, chronology and to examine anomaliesidentified by geophysical survey. To this end arectangular trench was excavated on the platformand a long, narrow trench was dug across the sitefrom the hillside above the platform, across theplatform and through the slag-heap below.

On the platform were found the remains ofthree furnaces all severely truncated. Thestrongest geophysical anomaly on the platformturned out to correspond to a smithing floor withtrampled slag and hammer-scale from the processof forging raw iron bloom into finished iron. Heretoo were the footings of unmortared stone walls

from a major topographic feature, so that Nymet +ton means ‘estate on the River Nymet/in the Nymetregion’.

Both the River Mole and the River Yeo whichflows into the Taw at Nymet Rowland (one ofanother cluster of Nymet names), were once calledNymet, the name having very likely been transferredto the rivers from the area through which they flow.It is generally agreed that Nymet derives from theCeltic nemeton, a widespread place-name elementin the Celtic world, meaning ‘sacred place’,principally a grove or wood (Old Welsh nyfed,‘shrine, Old Irish nemed, ‘sanctuary’) The RomanNemetostatio (‘tax-gathering station at the sacredgrove’) is generally identified with North Tawton inwhich Hundred the Nymets lie. Nympsfield, Glosalso contains the element; as does AquaeArnemetiae the Roman name for the spa at Buxton,Derbyshire. It occurs in numerous continentalnames. A late Roman source, a treatise on paganpractices, speaks about ‘de sacris silvarum quaenimidas vocant’ (of sacred places in the woodswhich they call nimidas) (Rivet and Smith 1979,254)

The Nymptons and the Nymets lie within anarea which, to judge by the place-names, remainedheavily wooded until a relatively late date. On thesouth-eastern edge of this area is Morchard Bishop.Morchard (DB Morchet) represents British Celticmor+ cet ‘great wood’. It seems possible that wehave here an area with religious associations fromthe pre-Roman period. Any such associationsremained strong enough to be maintained in theform of a district name despite the otherwiseblanket removal of British Celtic place-names fromDevon at the West Saxon take-over.

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ACE hack-silverworkshopGordon Fisher

On Saturday the 1st of February, ten ACEmembers were treated to a very interesting andinformative workshop on the making of Vikingclip/ hack silver* jewellery.

The day was run by our very own metal man,Benjamin Venn, who had provided a wide rangeof books on the historical background and ideasfor designs. He also provided enough materials foreveryone to make at least one copper practicepiece and one silver bracelet.

Benny started the workshop with a briefdescription of clip/ hack silver, its use as a methodof payment as well as an adornment. One of thebooks listed the relative values of silver in theViking period, and how much certain items wouldcost. It made entertaining reading!

We then began the actual manufacture of ourprecious items, the method being very basic: finda punch with a shape that you like, and bop itwith a hammer, and away you go! People beganfairly hesitantly, but soon became more confidentand creative, and the Winkleigh CommunityCentre was soon ringing to sounds of hammer onpunch (plus the odd curse!).

Once you had filled your strip of metal withthe design of your choice, it was time to bend it toshape, but before you could do this it had to beheated to soften it (annealed). This was achievedby playing a blowtorch along it, watching verycarefully for the change in colours that meant themetal had reached its correct temperature. Then itwas into the water to quench it and back to theanvil for the final shaping to fit one’s wrist. Thereason for the heating is that repeatedhammering renders the metal work hardenedmaking it brittle at the point of impact and

An ACE WinterJanet Daynes

During the winter ACE was very active, mostlywith experimental archaeology, which meant thatwe could be indoors in the warm. The prehistoricclothes that we had made at our Novembermeeting were put to good use at the ACEChristmas party in December. Much feasting washad by all!

Our first meeting of the year in January wasorganised by Phil Tonkins. For the third yearrunning now he has taken ACE members up on toExmoor to explore some of the interestingmonuments there. This year we went to theRoman Fortlet on Old Burrow Hill, and then on tothe medieval settlement at Bagley and theSweetworthy prehistoric enclosures. It was a verycold day but the sun shone and we all had awonderful time blowing away the festivecobwebs.

In February we ran a ‘clip silver’ workshop andeven ventured out a couple of times: once to helpbuild the round house at the Cookworthy ForestCentre, and again to do the final (at last)earthwork survey at Stone Barton, Chulmleigh.

We are very pleased to report that our LocalHeritage Initiative grant application has beensuccessful. We now have the promise of fundingso that we can proceed with our ‘HouseDetectives’ project. The money will also help us tofeed information into North Devon on Disc(accessible at the Museum of North Devon) and toset up an environmentally controlled archive storein Winkleigh.

Taking advantage of the high tides of the 20thMarch and some unseasonably clement weather,a small but determined group of NDAS volunteersset out to survey weir number 11 on the Taw,namely Allen’s Rock. The stakes were first locatedand marked (with a small piece of masking tape)and then offset measurements taken from a baseline. The tape was removed after eachmeasurement thus ensuring that no stakes wereomitted in the survey. A total of eightymeasurements were recorded and are in theprocess of being drawn up. Given that the returncould not be located (even with the aid of areluctantly wet-suited surveyor – watertemperature 10c) this represents another sizeablestructure.

It is hoped that further survey will help toidentify the weir most likely to be informative inregard to C14 dating, so please, more volunteers!The next survey dates are in this newsletter. (seeDates for your Diary )

The previous day I had managed to locate theelusive weir 9 at Lower Yelland (elusive possiblydue to the fact that the proximity of theBoathouse Inn on a prior jaunt had proved moreof a draw than further mud-wallowing to theeast!) Without Colin to lead me astray this time Ipersisted and was rewarded with mud-spatteredtrousers and stakes as far apart as 200 metres.Whether these stakes represent differentstructures, phases of rebuilding or one largestructure is difficult to tell at this stage. Surveyagain would be beneficial.

This is almost certainly not the weir shown in awatercolour by William Payne in 1795 however, asthis is closer to Instow and remains to be found.

Alison Grant surmises it is (or was) near to thecricket ground.

Documentary research in Northam has turnedup a reference to Captain Whyte, a ferventabolitionist of fish weirs. An 1842(?) edition of theGazette refers to his list of the weirs that ‘havedesisted from fishing and the hutches that havebeen destroyed on the Torridge, without hardly amurmur’. Colonel Whyte, the Gazette tells us, wasanxious that the Taw should be equally free, but,the Gazette continues, ‘we would advise him tocease his thankless labours’! Howeverunappreciated Whyte’s efforts were at the time,his list, which is quite specific about places,provides further material for research.

Fish weirs UpdateChris Preece

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and floors of packed stone and slag. Excavationthrough the slag-heap suggested the periodiccreation of working platforms through cutting andlevelling of the unstable slag. The impression wasof intensive industrial activity over a long periodof time. Pottery from the excavation confirmed aRomano-British date. (After MG and GJ, February2003)

It seems possible that evidence of Romano-Britishiron-working will be found all the way down thevalley from Sherracombe to Brayford. Bothexcavation and geochemical survey at Brayford in2001 had already revealed a large smelting areaassociated with pottery of Romano-British date. Inthe village of Brayford iron-slag is found over a

wide area. In 2002 further excavation was carriedout by South-West Archaeology at Brayvale withthe assistance of NDAS members. Here thedigging of a platform for the construction of apatio had initially revealed a substantial collectionof Romano-British pottery in heavily charcoal-stained soil. Two spells of controlled excavationand one of rapid salvage excavation during theyear produced a large (for North Devon) quantityof Romano-British pottery, a total of 1342 sherdstogether with the now ubiquitous slag andfragments of furnace-lining. The pottery has beenexamined by Paul Bidwell and Associates at SouthShields who indicate a date-range in the latesecond to early third century. Most of the materialrepresents local coarse wares, but there is anappreciable quantity of imported fine waresincluding Samian as well as fragments ofamphorae. The excavations suggested workingprocesses similar to those seen at SherracombeFord. On the hillside, terraces had apparently beencreated as working platforms which becamedeposits for debris as time went on and newterraces were cut. There was plentiful evidence offurnaces, though no identifiable furnace wasfound. Shallow pits of dark soil containedhammer-scale, evidence of smithing on site.

It has been suggested that the iron-workingsites in the Brayford area represent one of thelargest known industrial sites from the Romanperiod. A great deal of further study will berequired before we know what to make of it all. Itdoes not mean that there were ‘Romans’ in NorthDevon, but now we know that the North Devonarea was at least involved in the economy ofRoman Britain and was probably supplying iron toa large market. We also know what kind ofmaterials to look out for in field-walking andexcavations. There is no known reason why‘Romans’ should be confined to Brayford and itsenvirons.

Excavating a Romano-British working platform atBrayvale. (NDAS members working with South-West Archaeology)

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on National Archaeology Day, July 19th, inBrayford Village Hall. They will givedemonstrations, display their work with maps andmosaic designs, model clothes from the Romano-British period, and give a dramatic presentation.Other possibilities are a Roman armydemonstration, a mini-excavation, smelting, atasting of Roman recipes, etc

This development is funded by the DfESthrough the Museum of North Devon, who arealso providing materials, as part of an initiative toencourage closer co-operation between schoolsand museums. The education pack is beingprepared by NDAS member Chris Preece with theassistance of Moyra Keeting, who is preparing thecostumes, and Roger Cole, who is puttingtogether boxes of materials from the museum.

Primary school children at Brayford are to be thefirst to benefit in their education from the recentdiscoveries of Romano-British iron-working sitesin North Devon. An information/educationalactivities pack is currently in preparation whichwill add a local dimension to the ‘Romans’ bit ofthe national history curriculum. Firstly children willstudy Roman Britain as a whole with the usualstory of invasion, armies, forts and theestablishment of Roman cities. In addition theywill learn to appreciate aspects of life in theRoman period. They will encounter Roman food,learn children’s games, look at houses, clothesand jewellery.

The icing on the cake is that the children willbe able to exploit the now very special position oftheir own village. They will learn how the newsites were discovered and the methods that havebeen employed to extract information from them.They will go out looking for evidence themselvesand will learn to do some elementary surveying. Itwill be possible to handle some of the pottery thathas come from the excavations and the childrenwill see how the shape of whole vessels can berecovered from a few fragments so that their styleand origin can be identified. They will learn aboutthe trade routes that may have brought potteryfrom the Rhineland or southern Gaul to NorthDevon and about the local manufacture anddistribution of pottery. Because the Brayford sitesare all to do with the smelting of iron, particularattention will be paid to mining and the extractionof iron from its ore.

As far as possible, the children will be involvedin practical activities culminating in an exhibition

Brayford children take on ‘the Romans’Chris Preece

Save your Society thecost of postage!

A number of members have supplied an emailaddress, but if you have only just acquired one,please let us know.

Email makes it possible to pass out informationquickly and cheaply. Please send to:gwyngala@onetel.net.uk

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(In 2001 a limited excavation took place in thegarden of Christmas Cottage, Church Street,Combe Martin. This produced fragments of silver-lead slag in what appeared to be a 16th-17thcentury context and in an area where documentsindicate late medieval smelting activity.)

In 2002 excavations to explore the silver/leadsmelting debris in the centre of the old villagecontinued where they had left off in 2001). Afurther 2x1m excavation on the west edge ofChristmas Cottage garden revealed similar resultsto the eastern excavation. Well definedundisturbed stratification to natural at 1.5mshowed a commencement of slag residues in early16th century contexts, reaching a peak at thebeginning of the 17th century and tailing offtowards the middle of that century. A largenumber of recovered and identified clay-pipebowls were the main date identifying medium. Asin the eastern excavation, a distinct gap in humanactivity was apparent between early medievalpottery sherds just above natural, and thecommencement of slag residues and potterysherds in the early 16th century.

To determine if the extent of residues crossedChurch Street, a 2x1m excavation wascommenced in the garden of the formerMiddleton Farm (the property of Dr. MargaretEames), the possible site of a water-poweredsmelt-mill. The first 1m of contexts indicatedconsiderable 18/19th century disturbance. At1.5m much industrial debris indicative of smeltingwas revealed in complicated but well-definedcontexts. The excavation concluded at 2.5m depthhaving passed through contexts which suggested

an area for mixing lime mortar, a cobbled yard, astone filled drain, and the base of a robbed outwall. Large quantities of slag were discovered butunlike the previous excavations, only one clay-pipebowl, making dating of the slag difficult. Earlyanalysis suggests a similar pattern to the earlierexcavations.

Probably one of the most important aspects ofthe Dr. Eames excavation was the discovery of ahammer-stone, which has been authenticated byRAM Museum Exeter. Also slag was discovered incontexts at 2.5m depth in association with Saxo-Norman pottery sherds. If this association isconfirmed in further excavations, it will push thedate for smelting in the village back much earlierthan documentary evidence indicates. Theimportance of the smelting has been confirmed bythe discovery of a sherd of 13th centurysouthwest France Santonge polychrome pottery,probably associated with the first Cluniac Prioryestablished in Barnstaple in 1072. The Cluniacorder held lands in Combe Martin, and wasresponsible for Combe Martin and BerrynarborChurches after the Conquest.

Thanks to the interest and generosity of Dr.Justine Bailey, English Heritage, Fort Cumberland,the smelting debris is now being analysed by Dr.Sarah Paynter who visited Combe Martin and hastaken a profound interest in the excavations.

Archaeology in Combe Martin Trevor Dunkerley