Great Torrington castle is one of North Devon’s most enigmatic heritage sites, having laid largely unacknowledged, framed by the Barley Grove car park since the 1970s. The site has several HER entries (undesignated) and a small excavation in 1987 under the adjacent bowling green pavilion found medieval buildings and pottery (Goodard, S & Higham, R. 1987. DA. Vo.45). A new community excavation, “DIG THE CASTLE”, was undertaken during September and October 2023. Over 150 local school children 5-18, and 168 adult volunteers and community members, were involved with the project, as well as a dedicated team of professional archaeologists and volunteers from Archaeologists Engage, an academic non-profit public engagement charity.
