Category: History

Parracombe in 100 Objects 55

Holworthy Excavation Twenty Years on

The year 2025 marks twenty years since the conclusion of the North Devon Archaeological Society dig at Holworthy Farm, Parracombe, property of Phil and Julie Rawle. So it seems appropriate  at this time  to remind ourselves of what was achieved there. Four seasons of excavation (2002-2005) on a ploughed out circular enclosure on the hillside above Higher Holworthy revealed evidence of what was probably a small farmstead inhabited for roughly 300 years between 1500 and 1200 BC, a period known as the Middle Bronze Age.

The excavation revealed that, similarly to some Dartmoor enclosures such as Grimspound, the Holworthy enclosure was surrounded not by an earth bank, but by a bank of piled stone. Inside the enclosure a ring of post-holes was evidence of a large round-house, the posts of which appeared to have been removed whole, many of the resulting holes being blocked with a stone. Within the post ring was a trench filled with fire-ash into which large stones had been dumped and beside which a small saddle quern (for grinding grain) had been carefully laid. These observations, together with other ‘ritualistic’ deposits of domestic materials, especially a pottery vessel of a Cornish type (Trevisker ware) placed beside the fire trench, suggested that the settlement had been abandoned with care, possibly with the intention or the hope to return.

Quantities of organic matter from the fire trench and from post-holes provided material for radio-carbon (Carbon 14) dating, yielding dates firmly in the Middle Bronze Age . It also gave us evidence of the Bronze Age environment of Holworthy, including carbonised hazel nuts together with ash from a wide range of familiar tree species, pollen from pine and fern and weeds of cultivation such as fat hen. Very significantly, deposits of carbonised wheat and barley provided the only evidence of prehistoric grain cultivation on Exmoor.

The final excavation season in 2005 brought a surprise. Close beside one of the post-holes of the post-ring was another hole in which was a flat stone beneath which was a deposit of carbonised grain. While oak charcoal from the post-hole yielded a Middle Bronze Age radiocarbon date, the grain from the other hole produced a date about 1000 years later, the Middle Iron Age. There was nothing random about this feature; it was very deliberately done. It appears that the enclosure continued to attract occasional(?) attention for at least a millennium.

Inevitably an excavation such as this provides only a keyhole view of Bronze Age life and culture. Nevertheless we know far more as a result of the Holworthy project than ever we knew before. It certainly adds great depth to the history of Parracombe.

Thanks are due to Phil and Julie Rawle for allowing us to dig on their land, to the Exmoor National Park Authority, to the Royal Archaeological Institute and others who were generous with funds, to Dr Martin Gillard who supervised  2004-5 and of course to the volunteer diggers whose sore backs, sunburn and blisters made it all possible.

Terry Green

You may well have walked over this stone many times as it lies hidden beneath the rug at the door of St Petrock’s Church, possibly to try and protect it from further erosion. We don’t know where this originally came from but possibly it was once placed over a grave which is long forgotten and then later re-used to form part of the door step into the church.

If you are out walking when the sun is low in the sky or snow has begun to melt you may see curved ridges in many of the fields around Parracombe. These are know as ‘ridge and furrow’ and are a remnant of ancient farming methods. Peasant farmers were allocated strips of land on which to grow their crops and they used a plough share which had a board to turn over the soil usually to the right. It wasn’t possible to reverse these ploughs so a clockwise process was adopted. The edge of the strip was ploughed and then the share lifted at the end of the strip. It was walked round on the uncultivated headland and then the plough re-attached and the other side of the strip was worked. This resulted in the soil along both sides being turned inward towards the centre of the strip, thus giving the characteristic mound profile. Early strips are often curved. In Parracombe good examples can be seen (when conditions are right) to the north and west of Bodley, around the bypass above Holwell Castle and near Rowley. They are best seen from a distance.

As you are about to enter Christchurch porch look up and to the left you will see that one of the stones in the tower wall is inscribed with a small Star of David. So far we have not been able to find out when or why this stone was inscribed so if you have any information please get in touch.

These two inscriptions can be found in the roadside wall near Bodley Cross. They are on separate stones and seem to be two sets of initials. We have no idea when they were carved into the stone or why. The AL & GS is deeper whilst the other is more of a surface scratch. It would be nice to think we have a memory of young love etched into the wall!