Hembury Castle, Buckfast

Hembury Castle is an Iron Age hillfort about a mile north-west of the village of Buckfast on the south-eastern edge of Dartmoor in Devon, England [1]. The fort is about 178 metres above sea level on a promontory between the River Dart on the east and the Holy Brook, south-west [1]. The fort is said to cover about seven acres and it is surrounded by a prominent rampart and ditch [1]. It is one of several Iron Age forts on the eastern edge of Dartmoor, others include Holne Chase Castle, Wooston Castle, Cranbrook Castle and Prestonbury Castle [1]. Inside the fort, on the western side, is an 11th- or 12th-century motte with a surrounding narrow inner bailey [1]. The ramparts of the earlier hillfort may have been used as the outer bailey of the castle [1]. The first documentary reference to Hembury Castle is in the 13th-century cartulary of nearby Buckfast Abbey, where it is referred to as vetus castellum quod dicitur Hembire [1].