Very easy to find as the B3180 passes straight through the middle of this handsome Iron Age fort. We happened to be staying about half a mile from here while working in Honiton and were vaguely aware of it's presence the first night of our stay as we drove through. The next morning gave us more tantalising glimpses as we made the return drive to Honiton with perfect low sunlight filtering through the copper coloured leaves of the beech trees on and within the banks of the fort. The fort itself sits just slightly atop a wild and open area of common land and the OS map shows evidence of a number of tumuli in the surrounding area but sadly, we never had time to investigate these. The banks which are quite substantial in places are made up largely of smooth rounded pebbles from an ancient river bed and a little further down the road from here is a company extracting the same material for aggregate. This area must once have been a large alluvial plain stretching between the River Exe in the West and the River Otter to the East. A great place to wonder around on a sunny autumn day with stunning views across the common in all directions
We found no evidence of the car park marked on both the OS Landranger and Explorer maps on the north side of the fort.
The enclosure is bisected by the B3179 and there is a car park on both sides of the road on the southern side. The one on the eastern side of the road is right up against the ramparts so you can't miss the fort from there.
If you cross the road to the car park opposite there is a fantastic vista at SY031872 that overlooks the Exe valley estury, giving views of Exeter, Exmouth, and Dartmoor in the distance. Well worth a short walk.
Visited Woodbury Castle (not a castle, nor really a hillfort) on a lovely April afternoon. Beware as the name Woodbury crops up in many places in Devon alone, and many more in other counties too.
This is a camped enclosure of impressive proportions set on a rise in Woodbury Common, north of Budliegh Salterton & Exmouth and South-East of Exeter. It looks like a camp that might have been fortified at one stage as the ditch is outside the bank. The bank is quite impressive in places and gives the inside of the camp a secluded feel. The camp itself has a host of trees inside, and also contains a well (encased in modern brick and iron) called Soldier's Well.
Page about Woodbury, includes an extract from Aileen Fox's "Prehistoric Hillforts in Devon", and a link to the Clinton Estate pages, which also have a page about the castle.
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