The low bank of an Iron Age hillfort on the hill above the Otter, named in a charter of 1061
Access unclearno public right of way confirmed — check locally before setting out
Earthworks onlybanks, ditches and platforms — read the ground, not walls
Belbury is a slight hillfort — a single low bank on a hilltop above the River Otter, with the ditch that once fronted it now mostly filled in. You can still trace it along the western side; on the north and east it has been ploughed away almost entirely. A charter of 1061 calls the place Bigulfesburgh, so the earthwork was already old and already a landmark nearly a thousand years ago, long before anyone attached the word castle to it. Whether it was built to hold people or livestock is anybody’s guess.
It’s a couple of miles from Ottery St Mary, on the edge of the East Devon National Landscape.
More at the National Heritage List entry
