lydford teachers kit

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Saxon & Norman Lydford

TEACHERS KIT

BOOKING AND SITE INFORMATIONThe Engine House, Fire Fly Avenue, Swindon, SN2 [email protected] Wwww.english-heritage.org.uk/onlinebooking

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Lydford is a rare example of a planned Saxon town from the time of King Alfred(871-899 AD). You can visit the massive earthwork that was built to defend the

town, and you can explore the street plan. This was an important town thatplayed a key role in the defence of the Kingdom of Wessex. There was even amint where early pennies were struck.

You can also visit important structures from Norman period (after the conquestof 1066). Behind the beautiful medieval church, on the west side of the promon-tory lies a small Norman fort where excavations have revealed the foundationsof grain stores.

Dominating the centre of Lydford is the so-called castle. It was really a court-house and prison and it had a terrible reputation. It was an administrative centre

for the regulation of the mining of tin on Dartmoor.

HISTORY

Planned 9th century town lying on spur, defended on NE side by ramparts

Site of important 10th century mint Early Norman earthwork castle in western corner

Prison and courthouse for the Stannary Court 12th-18th century
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HISTORY

During the reign of Alfred the Great (AD 871-99) it is believed that Hlidan, thetown now known as Lydford, was chosen to form a unit in the scheme of na-tional defence of Wessex. The town occupied a position of great naturalstrength, a triangular promontory protected on two sides by deep river valleys.

The third side was defended by an earthen rampart. These strong defences mayhave been the reason that an attack by the Vikings in 997 AD was repelled. Youcan walk along the ramparts by going through marked gates near the VillageHall.

A document called the Burghal Hidage lists 33 burhs that were built around theKingdom of Wessex. Taxes to support the defence of each burh were based onthe land, measured in hides, held by local landowners. Hlidan (Lydford) was

assessed at 140 hides, equating with 577 feet.The towns streets were laid out in a grid pattern still evident in the village to-day, where modern hedges and footpathsfossilise the courses of earlier streets.

By the 10th century the town had its ownmint, and its prosperity, from the tintrade, is evident from the fact that it paid

The Saxon Burh

Established probably by King Alfred (871-899 AD) Part of a system of defences around the Kingdom of Wessex

A town laid out with high street and side streets

On a promontory with earthwork defences on the north-east

The Wessex Burhs: order ofcitation in the manuscript.After David Hill, 1981 "AnAtlas of Anglo-Saxon England"Blackwell, Oxford; and http://www.archeurope.com

Silver long cross penny ofAethelred II (978-1016),Minted at Lydford c.997-1003 by Goda.
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HISTORY

as much in taxes to the king as Totnes or Barnstaple.Soon after the siege and capture of Exeter by William the Conqueror in 1068, asmall defensive earthwork was built on the extreme south-west tip of the prom-ontory at Lydford.

Excavations have revealed the re-mains of five wooden buildings pro-tected behind a crescent-shapedearth and timber rampart with adeep ditch. The buildings appear tohave been for the storage of grain.This rare early Norman castle, nowowned by the National Trust, is afascinating site and well worth visit-ing.

The early castle was probably aban-doned fairly quickly. Meanwhile, Lyd-ford had become the administrativecentre of the forest of Dartmoor, aroyal jurisdiction with important andl u - c r a t i v e

rights.

The Norman Castle

A defensive earthwork on the south-west of the Lydford spur Built soon after William the Conquerors capture of Exeter in 1068

Five buildings revealed by excavations


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HISTORY

Although it looks like a Norman castle with its stone tower on top of an earthmotte, with a bailey stretching out to the north-west, it is really a courthouse

and gaol. By 1195, Lydford had become the judicial centre for the whole of theDartmoor tin-mining or stannary district, which had its own laws.

In 1194 King John authorised the building of a new tower east of the church, tohouse offenders against both the forest and stannary laws. Such was the im-portance of the tin industry in Devon and Cornwall that a special legal and taxa-tion system had evolved to govern it, and the stannaries, or tin districts of Dev-on, were administered from Lydford. In 1239 Henry III granted Lydford to hisbrother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, as part of a princely endowment.

On the death of Earl Richards son, Edmund, in 1300 the estate reverted to theCrown and since 1337 Dartmoor and Lydford Castle have formed part of thepossessions of the Duchy of Cornwall.

Offenders against the stannary laws were incarcerated here throughout the Mid-dle Ages and fitfully until the 18th century. The best-known was Richard Strode,MP for Plymouth, himself a tinner, who was thrown in the gaol in 1510 after hav-ing the temerity to complain that mining debris in the moorland rivers was silting

The stannary courts evil repu-tation for rough justice, thoughpossibly unfounded, was long

remembered. Even in the heatof summer, the bare walls andgloomy interior of Lydford Cas-tle seem to bear witness to thewords of the Devon poet Wil-liam Browne (15901645).

Lydford Castle

A gaol and courthouse rather than a castle The judicial centre of Dartmoor

A fearful reputation for rough justice


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King Johns castle or gaol, built in 1195, seems to have consisted of a single tow-er two storeys high and about 15 metres (50 feet) square. Its walls were morethan 3 metres (10 feet) thick and it had deeply splayed, round-headed windows.

During the late 13th century, when the castle was gaining importance as a stan-

nary gaol, the tower was drastically rebuilt. The upper storey was demolishedand the ground floor used as the foundation for a much taller building. Earth waspiled around its walls, so that the tower appears to have been built on a motteor mound.

A large earthwork enclosure or bailey was formed to the north-west of thetower. Apart from a small pit in one corner, all the interior of the originalground floor was filled in, so blocking the original windows. The break betweenthe 12th and 13th century work is easy to see, as the walls of the basement aremuch thicker than those above. Rows of joist holes indicate floor levels, andcorbels near the top of the walls show where the roof timbers rested.

Entry to the tower was by a large doorway facing the bailey, from which a nar-row flight of steps within the thickness of the wall led up to a large hall. In theentrance to the hall is a hole for a drawbar to secure the door; by the side ofthe same opening is a latrine with the ledge for its seat still in position.

There may also have been apart-ments for the keeper or gaoleron this upper floor, with prisoncells below the pit in the base-ment probably being reserved forthe most loathsome of prisoners.

References

Saunders, A D 1964. 'Lydford Saxon Town and Castle', HMSO

Saunders, A D 1980. 'Lydford Castle, Devon',Medieval Archaeology, 24, 123 64

STRUCTURE

Lydford Castle

First built in 1195 as a two storey gaol at ground level A mound built up around the ground floor in the 13th century

Two storeys built above it at the same time

The old ground floor is partly filled in except for the dungeon


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PLAN

Lydford Castle

A plan of the courthouse which displays the typical features of a cas-tle, including a motte, keep and bailey.

lydford teachers kit

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