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Totnes Town Wall
In the civil parish of Totnes.
In the historic county of Devon (Modern Authority of Devon, 1974 county of Devon).
The Anglo-Saxon borough defences probably enclosed the top of the hill, commanding the navigable reaches of the Dart, on the line later followed by the medieval wall, whose circuit is still marked by South Street, Guildhall Yard and North Street. The motte and bailey castle (qv) built at the Conquest by Judhael de Totnes was inserted at the highest point of the hill, in the north-west corner of the Saxon burgh. The counterscarp of the defences of the inner bailey may preserve the line of the borough curtilage. The 1st murage grant was received in 1264; a 2nd which was surrendered because nothing was being done, in 1355. The walls mainly date to the late C14 with extensive repairs in 1639. Remains of the defences survive at the North Gate, Castle Street; No 2, High Street; and the Baste Walls, South Street. The West Gate was demolished circa 1810. The East Gate Probably altered and refronted circa 1835 in Gothic style when the former round-arched entrance and footway (the "needles eye") was replaced by a wide, flat-arched gate-way.
This site has been described as a;
Urban Defence.
The confidence
that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Masonry ruins/remnants remains.
This site is a
Grade 1 listed
building protected by law*. (Images
of England number 427222 etc)
The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SX801605
PastScape number;
446486, 446461, 446465, 446577, 446474
Books
- Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p24, 256
Higham, Robert A., 1999, 'Castles, Fortified Houses and Fortified Towns in the Middle Ages' in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W., Historical Atlas of South-West England (University of Exeter Press) p136-43
Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern) p83
Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p63
Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p92-116
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p122
Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) Medieval Towns in England and Wales (CBA research reports) pp57-71
Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p218-24
Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co) p216-7
Journal Articles
- Fox, C., 1958, 'Totnes' Archaeological Journal Vol114 p174-6
Michell Whitley, 1916, Devonshire Association reports and transactions Vol48 p196-8
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p113
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*The listed building
may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site
of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
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