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Grid ref: SX 4971 8384
On walking routes: Lydford Gorge Railway Path, Lydford Gorge, Lydford Gorge Waterfall trail, Lydford Gorge, West Devon Way
Main image: Photo: Derek Harper, Wikimedia Commons
Historic England's scheduling record (list entry 1018518) describes an Iron Age hillfort with a single rampart, which was reused for medieval buildings. It sits on top of a steep slope above the valley of the River Lyd to the south and another steep valley to the north. It lies in the parish of Lydford, about 1.9 km south-west of Lydford.
The hillfort is a rectangular enclosure 66.5 metres north to south by 62 metres east to west, bounded by a rampart up to 9 metres wide at the base and 1.4 metres high inside, with an outer ditch on three sides up to 5.2 metres wide and 1.1 metres deep. On the north a steep natural scarp replaces the ditch, and on the south an outer bank 1.4 metres wide and 0.3 metres high stands above the very steep slope. The whole enclosure slopes gently to the north, and there is an apparent entrance on the east.
Inside are medieval structures. A longhouse in the middle is 29.3 metres long and 6.3 metres wide inside, marked by low banks up to 1.2 metres wide and 0.4 metres high. Round it, on all sides but the south, are circular and oval pits and hollows, a two-celled building and a square structure, all traces of medieval occupation.
Sources: Historic England list entry 1018518, which cites Silvester and Balkwill, 'Hill-Slope Enclosures in the Lyd Valley, West Devon' (Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings, vol 35, 1977), pages 81 to 84.
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