Dartmouth Gommerock Harbour Chain (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Dartmouth, Kingswear.
In the historic county of Devonshire.
Modern Authority of Devon.
1974 county of Devon.
Medieval County of Devon.

OS Map Grid Reference: SX88855049
Latitude 50.34383° Longitude -3.56337°

Dartmouth Gommerock Harbour Chain has been described as a certain Chain Tower.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

"The chain across the river was fixed to the cliff near Gommerock where there is a hole in the rock for fixing the chain" (Saunders, 1991, p. 23). The site consists of a vertical rock face about 6m high, cut back to create a rectangular level area measuring 5m by 9m at its base. This rock face has three horizontal lines of square sockets, presumably to take joists for a timber structure. At the foot is a rectanglar socket measuring 0.95m square and 0.45m deep. It is the hole refered to by Saunders. The site was apparently where the harbour chain was anchored and it was presumably either defended or concealed (Wilson-North 1991). The remains described are either a structure associated with Gommerock (SX 85 SE 10) or with the harbour chain. The fixing point for the chain is not as described by ..., but was identified recently at SX 88856 50494, and consists of a 0.2 m wide gulley cut into the rocks at 2 m above OD. The gulley was presumably intended to accomodate a loop of the harbour chain, thus acting as a natural bollard (Wilson-North 1996). (PastScape)

A large opening in the seaward side of this room is the hole through which the chain, which stretched across the harbour mouth, passed over a roller. The marks of successive slots for the axle of the roller can be seen in the jambs. The chain seems to have been hauled in by means of ropes, with the aid of a capstan or two wheels on an axle. The housing may have been in the holes in the back wall of the room. (Scheduling Report for Dartmouth Castle)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1003852, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number dv185
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 765277.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 58666.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- English Heritage official site
  Devon Perspectives
Books
- (For full bibliography of Dartmouth defences see Dartmouth Artillery Castle)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 117 (mention)
  Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p. 96
Guidebooks
- Davison, B.K., 2000, Dartmouth Castle Guidebook (London: English Heritage)
  Saunders, A.D., 1991, Dartmouth Castle, Devon (London: English Heritage)
  Saunders, A.D., 1986, Dartmouth Castle, Devon (London: English Heritage)
  Saunders, A.D., 1983 2edn, Dartmouth Castle, Devon (HMSO)
  Saunders, A.D., 1965, Dartmouth Castle, Devon (HMSO)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1897, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward IV (1461-67) p. 75 view online copy (Grant of money for chains in 1462)
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1890, A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds Vol. 1 A. 654 online transcription (Grant of money for chain in 1486)
  - Also see the Gatehouse murage pages for full details of murage grants, petitions and other such.
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 115
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 221 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Wilson-North, 10-R-1996, WR/RCHME Field Investigation
  Wilson-North, 01-NOV-1991, WR/RCHME Field Investigation

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The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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