HOLWELL CASTLE

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DESCRIPTION

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A motte and bailey castle measuring 40m in diameter and 6.2m high above the bottom of a rock cut ditch which is 2.7m deep. The ditch is complete apart from on the north and west sides where the bailey impinges. Within the bailey are traces of five building platforms terraced into the hillside. On the summit of the motte is a linear hollow thought to be the remains of the 1905 excavation. A survey carried out in 1995 after a period of drought located the keep on the summit and a wing hall on the motte slopes. Scheduled.

DETAIL

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MORE INFORMATION & SOURCES

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(SS 66974460) Holwell Castle (NR) (1).

Motte and bailey, with the motte 50' high and originally surrounded by a fosse 6' deep but destroyed around SE parts by modern banking. The bailey is surrounded by a bank 10' high from the interior and 20' high on the exterior (2).

A motte and bailey situated on a NW facing promontory between two valleys.
The motte is 40.0m diameter and 6.2m high above the bottom of a rock cut outer ditch which is itself 2.7m deep. The ditch is complete except in he N and W where the bailey impinges (3).

The bailey encloses an area of 1/2 acre and has a rampart which is up to 1.0m high above the interior and 5.0m above the outer ditch. A counterscarp bank is 0.3m high in the west but survives only as a flat berm in the E. A break in the rampart in the NW is possibly an original entrance, but is now too mutilated for definite interpretation.
Resurveyed at 1:2500 (4).

Holwell Castle is centred at SS 66974460. It is generally as described by authy 4, except that within the bailey are traces of a building platform at SS 6695144596. It measures approximately 9m by 12.4m and is terraced into the hillside on its upper or south-east end. Other amorphous undulations within the bailey are probably partly due to the shape of the ground surface, or less likely, represent further structures.

On the summit of the motte is a linear hollow running north-west to south-east. It probably represents an excavation trench and may well be associated with the Rev. Chanter's exploration of the site in 1905 (see SMR account, SS 64 SE 18).

Although considered by earlier authorities to occupy a classically defensive position, Holwell Castle is geared specifically to overlook the existing settlement and especially the river crossing to the north-west; it also dominates the valley of the River Heddon running north-westwards. However, it is overlooked by higher ground to te south-east, and the motte has in fact been cut down into the end of the spur which makes it weaker when approached from this direction. It seems therefore that the castle's position is intended to dominate the settlement of Parracombe and specifically the river crossing. (5)

Holwell Castle was surveyed at 1:500 scale by RCHME in June 1995 at the request of the Exmoor National Park Authority.

The survey was carried out after scrub clearance and after a period of drought. This enabled fine detail to be observed, including the base of the keep on the motte summit, the site of a wing wall on the motte slopes, and five platforms within the bailey. The most substantial of these, first observed in 1993 (above, Source 5) is probably the site of the hall. The absence of documentary evidence for the site means that its longevity is not known, however, the field evidence suggests that the buildings within the bailey were mainly of timber (or cob).

Plans and a full report have been deposited in the NMRC. (6)

Listed by Cathcart King. (7)

The 1:500 survey plan (source 5) was incorporated into an air photo plot of Parracombe and the surrounding area.
(8-9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1963

( 2) edited by William Page, F.S.A. 1906 The Victoria history of the county of Devon : volume one

The Victoria history of the counties of England Page(s)620

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

Page(s)134-5, 213

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 MHB 18-AUG-72

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

Wilson-North WR 3-SEP-93, RCHME Field Investigation

( 6) Field Investigators Comments

Wilson-North, WR 12-JULY-1995 RCHME Field Investigation

( 7) by David J Cathcart King 1983 Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the islands. Volume I : Anglesey - Montgomery

1 Page(s)118

(8) RCHME/EH Aerial Photographers Comment

Helen Winton/20DEC-1999/RCHME: Parracombe, West Exmoor

(9) General reference

Riley H and Wilson-North R 2001 The Field Archaeology of Exmoor English Heritage, Swindon Page(s)116-119

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