 The Walkhampton Enclosure (Devon)Rosamond Faith and Andrew Fleming Landscape History, 2012, vol. 33, issue 2, 5-28 Abstract: At Walkhampton, west Devon, a continuous line of field boundaries apparently represents the remains of two sides and three corners of a roughly rectangular enclosure of c. 175 hectares. We argue on stratigraphic grounds that the Walkhampton Enclosure (WE) pre-dates the Norman Conquest. It was sited strategically — defended by watercourses to the west and south, and located where two important long-distance roads merged to cross the River Walkham. At its centre lies Welltown Farm (probably once Bickwell), whose earliest known form was a twelfth-century hall; it is set within a pear-shaped embanked enclosure. It is likely that the WE played a key role in West Saxon control of the area in the early ninth century, before the establishment of the burh at Lydford. Walkhampton was a royal manor at the time of the Domesday survey; we suggest that the old territory of Roborough hundred was ‘royalised’ by a West Saxon king, with its centre transferred to Walkhampton. The WE may be interpreted as a late Saxon inland, administratively a royal manor liable to render a contribution to the ‘farm of one night’, supporting a peripatetic royalty and other important officials. Date: 2012 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rlshxx:v:33:y:2012:i:2:p:5-28 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/01433768.2012.739392 Access Statistics for this article Landscape History is currently edited by Dr Della Hooke More articles in Landscape History from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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