NDAS Hartland XArch Project

Newsletter No 1	Hartland Swannery	Monoliths or Rubbing Posts?
Newsletter No 2	Hedge Survey	So Where is the Castle?
Newsletter No 3	Hartland Abbey Coach Drive	Water Mills

Newsletter No 3 January 2008 (based on the update article in the NDAS newsletter No. 14, 2007/08)

Survey in the parish of Hartland, at The Warren above Hartland Quay and in the area of St Catherine's Tor about a mile to the south, has become more and more extensive, continuing to produce very interesting results.The Hartland Project is now a joint Hartland Society/ NDAS project enjoying the support of Xarch, the University of Exeter project which is successor to the Community Landscapes Project.

It is unfortunate to have to report that the summer proved rather a loss at Hartland as far as further geophysical survey is concerned. Various distractions meant that we lost all the fine late summer weather and were back working alongside our horizontal wind systems again.

However, that is not to say that there was no activity. Away from the cliff-top surveys, walks have been conducted in the woodland valley between Hartland Abbey and Hartland, also at the Swannery below St Catherine's Tor. In addition, Xarch held an exhibition at Hartland Methodist Hall in September displaying the work they undertake for community groups and schools in Devon. A number of local groups and researchers took the opportunity to exhibit their work here, (www, projects.ex.ac.uk/xarch/).

Geophysical survey on the main site (The Warren) has continued to produce interesting results and Xarch have continued to infer from these the possible early land uses in the area. This is looking to be an extensive, multi-use site with evidence dating from the Bronze Age to the early medieval period.To date, an area some 52,000 m2. has been recorded which equates to less than 50% of the main site . Plate 1 represents the results of magnetometer survey produced so far. Each square on the plot represents 20x20m, so it is clear that numerous large-scale features exist.

These are mostly ditch and bank-type features, but exactly what they represent is at present impossible to say.

A low-lying area on the landward side of St Catherine's Tor is known as the Swannery and is thought by some to have been created as such by the Abbots of Hartland. Field-walking at the Swannery has produced some interesting observations, as a result of which an earthwork (topographical) survey was conducted (see Fig.1).

Close inspection of the stream bank and secondary banking was undertaken, and from the earthwork drawing it is now clear how the river was embanked or canalised, raising the possibility that in fact two ponds existed on the site (north & south). Although many river valleys in the area contain areas of wet-land there are no natural pools. The areas of wet-land have been thought to represent the existence of sub-surface lens(es) of clay in confined patches. At the Swannery it appears that a layer of clay may have been deposited which, due to the sea dissection of the valley, was never scoured out, so thai an extensive basin system exists. Inspection of the stream banks confirms the existence of the clay deposit.
Erosion has also exposed the method of construction of the dams with water washed pebbles, sands and gravels forming a base on top of the pre-existing topsoil. Examination of the bank shows that it was strengthened by a form of stone wall or coping and covered in turf. The identification of water-retaining banks has isolated other structures as being unrelated to this purpose. We therefore can conclude that two of the stone boundary walls are a later 18th century element of stock control and that the earlier valley floor earthwork and the banking running around the base of the Tor were later adapted to a different purpose. It was also possible to identify a second bank & ditch system on the hillside to the south-east of the valley. Aerial photographs indicate that a further series of previously unidentified field boundaries exists in this region, The next stage will be a contour survey of the valley bed to establish the possible extent of water retention. This will be followed by a core sampling programme looking for sediments and evidence of use (www.ndas.org. uk/swannery.htm ).

The woodland walk was an initial observation to complement an earlier study relating to the coach-drive of Hartland Abbey. A number of features had been identified in the earlier study and a list of areas of interest within the valley has now been produced. We have evidence of the existence of a deerpark - presumably created by the Dinhams - together with its boundary walls (Plate 2). Numerous sub-divisions of the woodlands, by means of banks and ditches are to be found. Some of these are extensive and persist as sunken walkways in some areas.

A section of the perimeter wall of the south deerpark,

A further series of walks is planned and an initial earthwork survey is being prepared.

Our thanks are expressed to Sir Hugh Stucley and Colin Davey for permission to access the land for non-invasive recording.

Participating parties: Hartland Society; Hartland Study Group; North Devon Archaeology Society; and Exeter University.