MSO12280 - Post-medieval gravel pits at Bat's Castle on Croydon Hill (Monument)

SS 9717 4016. Dunster 1, a round barrow on Croydon Hill, visited by Grinsell 8th June 1969 when under heath. It is apparently a modern stone heap 11 paces diameter, 3 ft high, but may be on the site of a sepulchral cairn. A mound is shown here on the one inch First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1809. It is on or near the Luxborough Boundary. (A cairn and human remains were found 'hereabouts Bats Castle' before 1840. See MSO9091 - Identified with Bat's Castle in Dunster Park (MSO9082), but ?possibly from this site.) [1] It was noted in the RCHME survey undertaken in 1998 that the cairn mentioned by [1] was actually sited at SS 9720 4007. [4] The cairn is clearly marked on the 25 inch 1st Edition map [5], and is just to the south of the parish boundary, on the summit of Croydon Hill. The grid reference given by Grinsell [1] refers to the area of stone extraction some 80 metres to the north which, unlike the cairn, is marked on the six inch First Edition map [6]. [7] See MSO10028 for the correct location of the cairn, some 80 metres to the south. [8] SS 9720 4014. The 25 inch 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map depicts and labels an area of old gravel pits as several earthworks straddling the Parish Boundary between Dunster and Luxborough. [5] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [9]