Promoting awareness of the archaeology and history of north Devon
Promoting awareness of the archaeology and history of north Devon
A walk around Countisbury (Newsletter No 14 2007/08)
On Sunday 2nd September NDAS members meti up with Roger Ferrar to lake
a guided walk looking at some of the archaeological features around Countisbury.
Lying at the top of the hill as you climb up out of Lynmouth in the Porlock
direction, the settlement of Countisbury consists principally of the church
and the Sandpiper Inn plus a small group of houses on the roadside. Other
houses and farms are thinly scattered throughout the parish.
Archaeologically Countisbury lies at the centre of an intensely interesting
area of Exmoor.
We met at the Barna Barrow carpark on a rather grey and chilly September
day and set off at once towards the former maritime look-out post on Butter
Hill from where you look north-west across the Bristol Channel. On the
way there we were instructed by Roger to look out for the flat stones
set in the path which had been placed there in the past to help men find
their way to the look-out post on dark and foggy nights.
The original purpose of this small building, we were told, was to observe commercail shipping in the Channel heading for Bristol. To the right of the path we also noted a number of very low, eroded field-boundaries revealed by swayling (burning off the heather and gorse to encourage new growth), and as we descended from the top of the hill towards the church, we encountered more relict field boundaries. Like the earthworks which are visible to the east of the church, these are presumably memorials to the days when Countisbury was a more populous community. It is notable that the Domesday Book (1086) records that Countisbury had a population of around 75, land for 10 ploughs with 50 acres of woodland and with pasture land 1 league long and 1 furlong wide (perhaps grazing land above the cliffs). It was worth £4 which was within the middle range of Domesday values. Around 1200 Henry III gave the manors of Countisbury and Lynton to Ford Abbey, and the Abbot's ambition to increase production from the Abbey's holdings may further account for agricultural development of this exposed area.
We were taken next to the church where the churchwarden, John Peddar gave
us some account
of its history.The building was expanded and restored during the late
18th and early 19th century, and very little is visible in the way of
early features, though one elaborate and well preserved medieval carved
bench end gives some indication that this was not a poor church. Mr Peddar
gave us an informed account of the building for which we were grateful.
Taking a brief look at the tiny school house below the churchyard, we
crossed the road and headed for Wind Hill. This magnificent - presumably
Iron Age - promontory fort is thought to be the bury or 'fortified place'
in the settlement name, the Countis- part deriving from a British or Old
Welsh word for 'high place'. The rampart, up to 30 feet in height and
stretching for a quarter of a mile from just above the sea on the north
side to the edge of a precipitous cleeve on the south side, would have
presented an unavoidable barrier to anyone travelling westwards along
the coast, forcing them to pass through its central gateway. Whether it
was ever a 'fort' in the military sense is debatable. Because of its position
it seems quite defendable, but was probably meant to impress rather than
intimidate. This promontory fort is thought to be the Arx Cinuit referred
to byAsser, King Alfred's biographer, as the site of the defeat of Hubba
the Dane in AD 878 (Kenwith between Northam andAbbotsham is now generally
dismissed as the battle site).
We walked along the rampart, admired the view and discussed this and that
before returning across the fields and back up the road to Barna Barrow
where we thanked Roger for his guidance and set out on our various journeys
home.