Tracey Castle, Bow (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Hilldown; Blue Violet Farm

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SX73369867
Latitude 50.77375° Longitude -3.79741°

Tracey Castle, Bow has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Low lying mound and adjacent dam may be a Medieval moated site. The tradition that a castle of the Tracy family stood here has been refuted. (PastScape)

Tracy Castle a prehistoric earthwork was possible sited around NGR SS72--00-- (Carbonell 1931)
Tracey Castle alleged site. "At Hilldown the Traceys are said to have had a castle, (more probably a fortified manor house) of which some walls remained within living memory" (Hoskins 1954).
The site is at the end of a 2.5m high promontory of clay, bounded on the north and east sides by very small streams. The area has been cut across by several trenches and excavations undertaken a few years ago (according to the owner of Blue Violet Farm) by a school from Exeter. It appears that nothing whatsoever was found, and current examination showed no trace of masonry. It seems most unlikely that any structure such as a fortified manor house ever occupied this site (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division 1962).
Large enigmatic structure, clearly with artifical elements (Griffith and Higham 1987 site visit).
Conceivably an island in an artificial lake? it is proposed that Exeter University will clean up one of the old trenches and survey the site in 1988 (Higham 1987 Personal Comment).
Probably a medieval moated site. Two trenches cut in the top of the earthwork were emptied of backfill in 1988. Neither revealed stratification in section, but both produced roof slate, some with peg holes, of medieval, or post-medieval form. 50m N lie the remains of an east to west running dam which, when operative, would have flooded the area in front of and to the sides of the earthwork. A field boundary containing trees of considerable age runs along and post-dates the dam bank. Plan & photo (Higham and Rouillard 1989).

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 445727.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 8429.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 87 (slight)
  Hoskins, W.G., 1954, A New Survey of England: Devon (London: Collins) p. 341
Periodical Articles
- Higham, R. and Rouillard, M., 1989, 'The site of 'Tracey Castle' Bow' Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society Vol. 47
  Higham, R.A., 1988, 'Devon Castles: an annotated list' Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society Vol. 46 p. 142-9
  Carbonell, B. M. H., 1931, 'The Nymet area' Transactions of the Devonshire Association Vol. 63 p. 299

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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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