Details

The monument includes Civil War fieldworks situated at the tip of the Inswork Point headland, overlooking the River Tamar and Devonport. The fieldworks survive as the breastwork to a battery. The breastwork is formed by two banks separated in the centre by a gully thought to represent an access way from the beach. The north bank measures approximately 18m long, 1.2m wide and 0.9m high and is earth built. The southern bank is approximately 15m long and slightly narrower and lower. It was described in 1644 by Col R Martin as being 'A great worke....with six peeces of ordnance'

Sources: HER:-
PastScape Monument No:-437702

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

English Civil War fieldworks are earthworks which were raised during military operations between 1642 and 1645 to provide temporary protection for infantry or to act as gun emplacements. The earthworks, which may have been reinforced with revetting and palisades, consisted of banks and ditches and varied in complexity from simple breastworks to complex systems of banks and inter- connected trenches. They can be recognised today as surviving earthworks or as crop- or soil-marks on aerial photographs. The circumstances and cost of their construction may be referred to in contemporary historical documents. Fieldworks are recorded widely throughout England with concentrations in the main areas of campaigning. Those with a defensive function were often sited to protect settlements or their approaches. Those with an offensive function were designed to dominate defensive positions and to contain the besieged areas. There are some 150 surviving examples of fieldworks recorded nationally. The Civil War fieldworks at Inswork Point are individually one of a relatively rare group representing a pivotal part of British history, as a visible earthwork they survive well and will retain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to their construction, function, strategic significance and overall landscape context.

Source: Historic England