north taw barton devon
North Tawton station in 1970.
By the time of the Domesday survey (1086), there were six farm / manor holdings in what is now North Tawton Parish, including that of Tawton which was the forerunner of the town we know today.
St Peter's Church is first recorded in 1257.
The isolated little village of Roborough is in these days a place of very quiet charm. The cottages are mostly thatched, but some still show the ancient wide chimney and here and there the old-time oven can be seen bulging and round in the walls ; the water is drawn from wells, and in the evening the soft glow of lamplight is the only lighting. In past ages the church and group of cottages was the heart of large manors and bartons occupied by families of ancient name and sufficient wealth. In prehistoric times a camp of Early Iron Age flourished. It is situated about three miles from Roborough in Ten Oaks wood , separated from the present village by a very deep and well-wooded valley. The camp is surrounded on three sides by a stream. It is defended by a rampart and ditch, with an outside agger still very perfect; an outer work embraces two-thirds of the camp. These iron age men belonged to the drift of later Celts, which flowed west about five hundred B.C. It would appear that the track of early man crossed through the present village of Roborough in a fairly straight line, and then down to the valley of the Taw. From the Domesday Survey we learn that in the time of the reign of Edward the Confessor the manor of Ruaberga was held by the Saxon Ulveva. It paid geld for if hides and could be ploughed by fourteen ploughs.
NOTES ON ROBOROUGH ' NORTH DEVON,
The levy on the manor per hide was unpopular, and under the Saxon regime seems to have been resorted to for Danegeld only.
The site of Calstock Roman Fort probably dating from the 1st century AD.