Ilfracombe Town Wall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SS525478
Latitude 51.21112° Longitude -4.11289°

Ilfracombe Town Wall has been described as a Urban Defence although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Comments

Although murage was not the only way to fund defences one years grant in a small port would not have raised much money. The much larger and more important town of Barnstaple was, at this time, allowing its defences, which dated back to Saxon times, to fall into decay. Although the Devon coast was subject to some pirate raids defense is not the real issue here. The planned walls have the feel of a, ill considered, local initiative to, superficially, gain trade and more likely gain some prestige for a few local men. However, a pier, with a lighthouse tower would have been a positive asset for the port and this may all that was really intended. St Nicholas Chapel, on Lantern Hill (SS 52514788), is a C15 building which is documented as being used as a lighthouse since C16 - was this chapel/lighthouse the real result of this initiative?

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1208792 , (St Nicholas Chapel)
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 872104; 34121.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 157 (slight)
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 257
  Higham, Robert A., 1999, 'Castles, Fortified Houses and Fortified Towns in the Middle Ages' in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W., Historical Atlas of South-West England (University of Exeter Press) p. 136-43
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales (CBA Research Report 14) p. 57-71 download/view online
  Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 196
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
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), 191?, Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry V (1416-22) Vol. 2 p. 172 (murage grant) online copy
  - Also see the Gatehouse murage pages for full details of murage grants, petitions and other such.

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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.

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

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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