Name Index

To

Totnes Castle and Walled Town

Trans. Devon. Assoc., vol.  48, (1916), plan, pp. 189-198.

by

H. Michell Whitley.

Prepared by Michael Steer

The paper was presented at the Association’s July 1916 Plymouth meeting. The author asserts that “after Exeter, Totnes is the most interesting town in Devon. Its superb position on a bold ridge in the valley of Dart, crowned with its lordly castle, encircled with its strong wall, and possessing its unique guild and municipal documents recording the rise and development of self- government, trade and maritime enterprise, all combine to render it well worthy of the ancient traditions of our fair county of Devon” (p. 198).Totnes Castle is certainly one of the best preserved examples of a Norman motte and bailey castle in England. The surviving stone keep and curtain wall date from around the 14th century. From after the Norman Conquest of 1066 it was the “caput” of the Feudal barony of Totnes. Since 1984 the castle has been under the stewardship of English Heritage. The Anglo-Saxon borough defences probably enclosed the top of the hill that commands the navigable reaches of the River Dart, on a line later followed by the town’s medieval wall, whose circuit is still marked by South Street, Guildhall Yard and North Street. The Paper, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.