Oldaport Fort
Has been described as a Questionable Fortified Manor House, and also as a Questionable Urban Defence
There are masonry ruins/remnants remains
| Name | Oldaport Fort |
| Alternative Names | Yoldeporte; La Porte in parochia de Modbury |
| Historic Country | Devonshire |
| Modern Authority | Devon |
| 1974 Authority | Devon |
| Civil Parish | Modbury |
A fortification of earth and stone walls on a spur of land at the junction of two small creeks, where they join a short arm of the river Erme. There are two periods of construction. Firstly a rectangular work occupying the north east end of the spur, and secondly a much larger work occupying the whole spur and incorporating all but the south west side of the smaller work in its perimeter. A stone wall defence survives 74.2 metres long, 3 metres wide and up to 2.7 metres high. Excavation in 1968 found a samian sherd suggesting the early feature may be a Roman fort. The phase 1 enclosure is probably Romano-British. However, a Romano-British civilian settlement has no morphological parallel in the south-west, and the Oldaport site would be out of character with such an interpretation. Therefore the second phase of stone construction must be considerably later. The earliest evidence of stone secular building in England comes from the palace site at Northampton (late 8th/early 9th century), and it is not until the 10th century that stone was again used in defensive works. It is unlikely then that the Phase II stonework dates to before the 10th century. By analogy, the work appears to be a burh of the reign of Aethelraed II. (PastScape)
This site is a scheduled monument protected by law
Not Listed
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
| OS Map Grid Reference | SX633493 |
| Latitude | 50.3277206420898 |
| Longitude | -3.92284989356995 |
| Eastings | 263340 |
| Northings | 49340 |
