Dartington Ringwork

Description

A small oval ringwork, 44.0m NE/SW by 31.0m NW/SE has been located in Staverton Ford plantation, at SX795634. There are 3 internal hallows. It is suggested on morphological grounds that it is Medieval rather than Roman or prehistoric. (PastScape ref. Silvester)

Circular earthwork enclosure containing the remains of a rectangular stone building, believed to be a medieval hunting lodge. (Devon and Dartmoor HER)

In Staverton Ford Plantation, there is a circular earthwork enclosure containing a medieval hunting lodge which measures 73m across its visible earthworks. The enclosure rises 1.7m above the surrounding land and contains an earthwork of a rectangular stone building, aligned east to west and measuring 13m wide and 20m long. Its walls are from 1m to 3m wide and survive up to 0.7m high. Short lengths of wall on its south side create small additional rooms against earthworks of an ovoid stone curtain wall which measures 29m from east to west and 41m from north to south. The wall is from 2m to 3.5m thick and rises between 0.6m and 1m from the interior, falling up to 1.5m outside. An entrance 3m wide in the east side has inturns from the curtain wall 2m long, while on the north side, an entrance 2m wide has traces of a stone abutment for a timber bridge across the outer ditch. Outside the curtain wall, a sloping berm between 4m and 6m wide, falls 0.4m to the lip of an outer ditch 3m wide and 1m deep. An upcast bank is 6m wide and from 0.2m to 0.5m high. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

Recorded in PastScape as a defensive monument but the identification as a hunting lodge seems more likely. Scheduled as part of the deer park of Dartington Hall, which is on the Heritage at Risk Register. Very close to Dartington Hall so probably a gamekeepers lodge rather than a high status dwelling.