Selworthy

Location

Last Visited: 2019 View Google Map, Geocoding, Google Earth pushpin, what3words, etc.

Now surrounded by trees, the Acland Memorial Hut is a 'Wind and Weather Hut' that reminds me of the shelters found on many a seaside promenade. Or at least a posh version; built in ashlar faced stone.

There are plaques inscribed above the seats on each side:

• The one on the front reads:

  Sir Thomas Dyke Acland
  Was Born March 29, 1787,
  Died July 22, 1871
  —·—
  This spot was selected
  by his youngest surviving Son
  John Barton Arundel Acland
  of Holnicote in New Zealand
  September 1878
  —·—

• The one on the back reads:

  In Remembrance
  of the Father
  who,
  during more than fifty years,
  took Sunday walks
  up this combe
  with his Children and Grandchildren
  training them
  in the love of Nature
  and of Christian Poetry
  this
  Wind and Weather Hut
  was built.

On the ends are examples of Acland's beloved Christian poetry by Heber and Keble. These are perhaps something of an acquired taste.

There is also a smaller inscription on the back that simply reads, "John Dyke Acland 1939-2009".

Location

Last Visited: 2019 View Google Map, Geocoding, Google Earth pushpin, what3words, etc.

For what is always described as an Iron Age hill fort, Bury Castle is a bit odd. As can be seen from the LIDAR imagery, it consists of an inner bank and ditch in the shape of a rounded rectangle. This has no discernible entrance, is quite small, and is set back from the scarp-face leaving a lot of relatively level land outside the walls.

To the west is an outer defence consisting of two walls at a oblique angle. These start at the northern scarp-face, but peter out before they get to the south side, where they align with an old field boundary bank.

As far as I know the site has never been excavated, but if it were, I would not be the least bit surprised it turned out to be mediaeval or later. But then, what do I know?