Down Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Puddington Bottom

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SS838093
Latitude 50.87140° Longitude -3.65278°

Down Castle has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Down Castle is a small ring-work, situated on Down Farm, and formerly covered by Castle Plantation. It is sited on the top but not at the end of a low spur, steep on both sides, which falls gently to the Binneford Water just below Puddington Bottom. A part of Castle Plantation had been felled before 1947 and is now an arable field. When ploughed the greater part of the circle of the defences shows as a light band of shaly stone from the bank in contrast to the darker soil from the rest of the field. The entrance is traceable on the higher part of the ridge to the eastward, and the rampart and external ditch can be clearly seen passing through the coppice and hedge on the south-west on the line A-B (fig 3). The rampart can be traced under the hedge on the western side and in the wood to the north of a modern track, which cuts through it at the corner of the field on the line A-B. The whole work is about 150 feet in diameter. In the tithe map of 1848 there was no plantation and the field (No 148) was called Castle, being part of Colleyland; the field to the west of the ring-work was then part of Venchannon (now Venn Channing) and was also simply called Castle. (PastScape–ref. Woolner)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 35522.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 635.

Periodical Articles
- Cdr and Mrs Woolner, 1963, Transactions of the Devonshire Association Vol. 95 p. 80-1

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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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