Voley Castle is an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

situated close to

Parracombe Parracombe is a rural settlement south-west of Lynton, in Devon, England. It is situated in the Heddon Valley, on Exmoor. The population at the 2011 census was 293. A number Bronze Age barrows exist nearby, along with several other small ear ...

in north

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, England. The fort is situated on a promontory on the eastern side of Heale Down, approximately above sea level. It is close to another Iron Age hill fort at Beacon Castle. Voley Castle is a slight univallate hillfort, a rare type of hill fort found mainly in Devon, and is unusual for its type because it has an outer earthwork.

Description

The site consists of an approximately circular enclosure with an internal diameter of , surrounded by a bank wide and high. Surrounding the bank is an outer ditch, partially filed in, which is wide and deep. The interior of the site is around 0.4 hectares in area and generally level, with traces of a platform on the west side and a circular depression in the southwest corner. In the south is an entrance to the enclosure with a causeway across the ditch. Outside the bank to the south and west is an outwork, made up of a second bank and ditch up to long, with an entrance and causeway across the ditch in line with the main entrance. A modern fence runs north to south across the site just west of the entrance. Voley Castle is a type of hill fort known as a slight univallate hillfort, which are defined as enclosures between 1 and 10 hectares in size situated on or close to hilltops with a single line of relatively small earthworks. These date from the

late Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

and early Iron Age, and are numerically and geographically rare, being mainly confined to Devon. Voley Castle is unusual for this type of fort because it has an outwork. Voley Castle is located on a steep east facing slope overlooking the valley of the

River Heddon The River Heddon is a river in Devon, in the south of England. Running along the western edges of Exmoor, the river reaches the North Devon coast at Heddon's Mouth. The nearest road access to the beach is at ''Hunter's Inn'', approximately so ...

, with uninterrupted views down the valley and north towards the sea. Its location is unusual for a hill fort, because it is on a level shelf around below the steeply rising crest of Heale Down hill, meaning that it would be very difficult to defend. Rather than being a fort, it has been suggested that the site likely represents a defended farmstead. The enclosure may have been used for holding cattle or possibly growing crops, and the outwork has been suggested to be a cattle enclosure. There are eight similar sites in

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath ...

, but Voley Castle is the only one in an indefensible position. It is very similar to the site at Sweetworthy, in the eastern part of Exmoor in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, in terms of its location, size and appearance.

References

Hill forts in Devon {{UK-archaeology-stub