Kingsbridge Town Defences (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SX734443
Latitude 50.28594° Longitude -3.77809°

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

There are no visible remains.

Description

Medieval earthen defences extended to C10 saxon burh defences vanished. (Bond)

PastScape records Anglo-saxon burh only. "The church and market at Kingsbridge lie to the North of the postulated area of the burh. The parish of this church comprises the whole of the burh and its extra-mural area, and is carved out of the parish of Churchstow. There is increasing evidence from Wessex burhs that this relationship of defended area to settlement was deliberately planned, and is a proto-urban feature." (PastScape ref. Landscape History p. 33 ? full details).

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1520295.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 21806; ; 21807.

Books
- Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 257
  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
  Haslam, J. (ed), 1984, Anglo-Saxon towns in southern England (Phillimore & Co Ltd) p. 271-5, 278
  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
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  Haslam, J., 1988, 'The Anglo-Saxon burh at Wigingamere' Landscape History Vol. 10 p. 33 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Simon Foote, 21 May 2009, 'Early Medieval Fortifications and Urban Places in South Devon, UK: A Re-evaluation of Archaeological, Topographical and Historical Evidence' paper read at The Early Medieval Archaeology Student Symposium University of Sheffield online copy

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

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