Charmouth Town Defences (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Charmouth.
In the historic county of Dorset.
Modern Authority of Dorset.
1974 county of Dorset.
Medieval County of Dorset.

OS Map Grid Reference: SY365937
Latitude 50.73842° Longitude -2.90222°

Charmouth Town Defences has been described as a Urban Defence although is doubtful that it was such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

New post-Conquest medieval defensive circuits and medieval extensions to earlier circuits, consisting only of gates and/or earthen defences. – C14 medieval earthen banks and/or ditch; Fragmentary remains; Circumstantial or secondary documentary evidence only; No archaeological excavation of defences known. (Bond 1987)

Medieval planned town. Charmouth was founded in AD 1320 when the Abbot of Forde created a free borough. The general lay out of the town can be traced in some of the burgage plots, especially on the north side of the town. A boundary bank also survives. (PastScape)
The general lay-out of the medieval town can still be traced to some extent. On the north the bugage plots survive and the limits of the town are clearly marked by property boudaries, including stone and rubble walls of uncertain date. There is no trace of a ditch, but an original bank may be preserved in soil build-up. (PastScape ref. Penn)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 449782.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1 029 014.

Books
- Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 258
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  Penn, K.J., 1980, Historic towns in Dorset (Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society monograph series No.1) p. 34-37
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  Keen, L., 2000, 'Monastic urban speculation: the Cistercians and medieval Charmouth' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Vol. 121 p. 17-22
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Dorset County Council, 2011, Dorset Historic Towns Survey: Charmouth Download copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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