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Dartmouth Gommerock Harbour Chain

In the civil parish of Dartmouth, Kingswear. In the historic county of Devon (Modern Authority of Devon, 1974 county of Devon).

This site has been described as a;
Chain Tower.
  Confidence: This site was certainly a medieval fortification or palace.   Cropmarks/slight earthworks remains.
"The chain across the river was fixed to the cliff near Gommerock where there is a hole in the rock for fixing the chain" (Saunders, 1991, p23). The site consists of a vertical rock face about 6m high, cut back to create a rectangular level area measuring 5m by 9m at its base. This rock face has three horizontal lines of square sockets, presumably to take joists for a timber structure. At the foot is a rectanglar socket measuring 0.95m square and 0.45m deep. It is the hole refered to by Saunders. The site was apparently where the harbour chain was anchored and it was presumably either defended or concealed (Wilson-North 1991). The remains described are either a structure associated with Gommerock (SX 85 SE 10) or with the harbour chain. The fixing point for the chain is not as described by ..., but was identified recently at SX 88856 50494, and consists of a 0.2 m wide gulley cut into the rocks at 2 m above OD. The gulley was presumably intended to accomodate a loop of the harbour chain, thus acting as a natural bollard (Wilson-North 1996). (PastScape)
The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SX88865049

Air Photo from multimap logo

Air Photo and general mapping

1st edition OS Map from old maps logo

Mid to late 19th century maps

Modern Map from Ordnance Survey logo

Landscape form and features

Modern Map from streetmap logo

General location and route planning

Geograph British Isles geography.org.uk logo
occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 765277
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website, or elsewhere.

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This record last updated on Thursday, December 17, 2009

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