Exmouth 'Danish' Fort (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Exanmouth

In the civil parish of Exmouth.
In the historic county of Devonshire.
Modern Authority of Devon.
1974 county of Devon.
Medieval County of Devon.

OS Map Grid Reference: SY00368031
Latitude 50.61397° Longitude -3.40967°

Exmouth 'Danish' Fort has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

PastScape record headed 'castle' reads "Possible Site of a Danish Fort built in 1001. There are no visible remains."

"Somewhat lower upon the mouth of the river stands Exmouth, that is, the mouth of Exe; anciently Exanmouth;.... yet it should seem it had a castle for its defence above 600 years since; for Mr. Hollinsled saith about the year 1001, the Danes with their navy returned out of Normandy, came to Exmouth and there assaulted the Castle" (Westcote). "It would seem therefore, that in these days (1646) there was both a fort and a castle, but that they were in existance simultaneously is doubtful. In any event the castle was only an earthwork" (Delderfield). The site of this castle is now occupied by a refuse and manure heap - the adjacent ground comprising allotments - There are no visible surface signs of the antiquity and the gardeners working here state that they have been aware of no finds (Field Investigators Comments-R1 HC 24-APR-195). (PastScape)

About the same time, or shortlie after, the Danes with their na'uie, returning out of Normandie, came vnto Ex'mouth, and there assaulted the castell, but they were repelled by them that kept it. (Holinshed)

Comments

Is this the same as the Civil War fort of the 1640's marked 'site of castle' on some OS maps that Higham reports? The definite date given in PastScape makes this seem unlikely but no other possible sites listed in PastScape.
Delderfield Civil War fort is probably Topsham 'castle' at about SX967876, not this site. What was at this site is unlikely to have been a medieval castle. Possibly a natural feature with an entirely fanciful history, although could well be a beacon site.
See also Exmouth Castle.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 448686.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 10649.

Books
- Delderfield, Eric, R., 1948, Exmouth Milestones (Exmouth) p. 38
  Polwhele, R., 1797, Historical Views of Devonshire Vol. 3 p. 214n
Periodical Articles
- Higham, R.A., 1988, 'Devon Castles: an annotated list' Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society Vol. 46 p. 142-9
  Davidson, J.B., 1883, 'On the Ancient History of Exmouth' Transactions of the Devonshire Association vol. 15 p. 159-160 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Westcote, Thomas, (Oliver, G. and Jones, P. (eds)), 1845, A view of Devonshire in MDCXXX (Exeter) p. 223 online copy
  Risdon, Tristram, 1811 (written c. 1620) The Chorogphaphical Description or Survey of the County of Devon (London) p. 123 online copy
  Holinshed, R., 1587, Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland Vol. 2 p. 167 Holinshed Project transcription
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Higham, R.A., 1979, The Castles of Medieval Devon (University of Exeter PhD Thesis) Downloadable from EThOS

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
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