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Summary

The ruins of the rectangular single-roomed warrener's house lie immediately north of the B3357. Oriented roughly west to east the interior measures 12.4 metres by 4.3 metres surrounded by coursed boulder walls 1.0 metre wide and 0.5 metres high. An entrance flanked by upright granite posts lies at the southern end of the west wall. Immediately outside the entrance is an area of artificially raised ground perhaps designed to provide a hardstanding. The adjoining enclosure is rectangular in plan and measures 20.2 metres north to south by 9.6 metres and is bounded by a steep-sided turf and stone bank 2.0 metres wide and 0.6 metres high. The south wall has been removed. A short length of what appears to be contemporary walling lies 30 metres to the south on the opposite side of the B3357.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1013427: A partially enclosed stone hut circle settlement, round cairn, post medieval farmstead, millstone and stone cutting pits 580m ESE of Merrivale Bridge

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57NE29
• National Monuments Record: SX57SE187
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1355487
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NE/75
• Old SAM County Ref: 332
• Old SAM Ref: 24191
• Pastscape: 439654

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSURE (Built, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))
• FIELD (Built, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))
• FARMSTEAD (Built, XIX - 1801 AD (Between) to 1850 AD (Between))
• GARDEN (Built, XIX - 1801 AD (Between) to 1850 AD (Between))
• WARRENERS LODGE (Built, XIX - 1801 AD (Between) to 1850 AD (Between))

Full description

Bray, A. E., 1836, A Description of the Parts of Devonshire Bordering on the Tamar and Tavy (Monograph). SDV345186.

Worth, R. H., 1943, The Prehistoric Pounds of Dartmoor (Article in Serial). SDV320337.

This site is recorded as cottage foundations, with garden plot to the south, built in approximately 1802. Other details: 281 Fig 6.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX57SE19 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV219145.

Associated with Enclosure I – at the western side of the main enclosure – is a small rectangular enclosure, which is subdivided into two parts by a wall near its northern end. The secondary enclosure is in a fair condition; its eastern wall stands to a height of 0.75 metres and is bound with turf.

Haynes, R. G., 1966-1969, Ruined Sites on Dartmoor, 82, Plan (Un-published). SDV150434.

Visited 1967. Small ruined cottage built by a man named Watts around 1830, who had permission to warren this area. There are a number of buries behind the cottage and in the nearby enclosure.

National Monuments Record, 1976, SX5575, 1/433 (Aerial Photograph). SDV345021.

Visible on aerial photograph. (22/04/1976)

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1979, SX57NE29 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV226449.

(04/12/1979) The warrener's House at SX 5564 7503, is now visible as substantial foundations of partly cut, drystone, walling 0.9 metres thick and 0.6 metres high. The building is 9.0 metres long overall and 5.5 metres wide with an entrance gap at the south-west corner. The house is enclosed by a turf covered bank of stone 2.0 metres wide and 0.6 metres high which extends to the south-west to form a garden or similar enclosure. Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD and at 1:2500.

Worth, R. H., 1981, Dartmoor (Monograph). SDV231173.

Other details: 139-40.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

Recorded during the Aerial Photograph Project.

Griffith, F. M., 1986, DAP/HO (Aerial Photograph). SDV256450.

Visible on aerial photograph. Other details: DAP/ HO 13.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 133501 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(11/8/1994) Merrivale Warren House (SX55647503). This post medieval farmstead lies within a large partially enclosed settlement. The farm building is terraced into the hill slope and includes a two-roomed structure. The western room measures 7.0 metres by 4.0 metres and the eastern one is 4.0 metres square. The walls are composed of roughly faced drystone and measure 1.0 meter wide and stand up to 0.9 metres high. A large roughly squared granite slab standing upright at the western end of the building formed the face of the chimney breast. A stone faced gully runs parallel to the north wall of the building and may have been built to provide drainage. An open ended rectangular enclosure leading off from the southern side of the building measures 20 metres by 10 metres and is defined by a 1.6 metre wide and 0.7 metre high stone and earth bank which is revetted on the external face. This enclosure may have been built to serve as a garden, whilst the prehistoric enclosure to which the building is attached may have been reused as a field.
According to Worth quoting Mrs Bray, the building was erected in 1802 under lease from a Mr Lopez, whilst Butler using the same source places the date of construction around 1832 and adds that some huts were damaged at this time and that further destruction was prevented by the Reverend Bray who persuaded the farmer that there would be more profit in acting as a guide for the tourists if the site was left unmolested. The picture is further complicated by Haynes who notes that the building was constructed by a man named Watts in around 1830 and that he had permission to warren this area. The nearby pillow mounds may therefore have been used at around this time. No information concerning the active life of this farm is published, although the absence of any ancillary buildings or associated enclosures would suggest that it was inhabited for only a very short time.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North (Monograph). SDV219155.

Other details: 73.

Photarc Surveys Ltd., 1991, Merrivale Prehistoric Village (Unknown). SDV345190.

Probert, S. A. J. + Fletcher, M. J., 2000, The Merrivale Guardianship Area, Walkhampton, Devon (Report - Survey). SDV344969.

(Visited 20/01/2000) The ruins of the rectangular single-roomed warrener's house lie at SX 5565 7503 immediately north of the B3357. Oriented roughly west to east the interior measures 12.4 metres by 4.3 metres surrounded by coursed boulder walls 1.0 metre wide and 0.5 metres high. An entrance flanked by upright granite posts lies at the southern end of the west wall. Immediately outside the entrance is an area of artificially raised ground perhaps designed to provide a hardstanding. The interior of the warrener's house is partially obscured by rubble and mutilated by a military slit trench. There are no obvious internal features.
The adjoining enclosure is rectangular in plan and measures 20.2 metres north to south by 9.6 metres and is bounded by a steep-sided turf and stone bank 2.0 metres wide and 0.6 metres high. The south wall has been removed. A short length of what appears to be contemporary walling lies 30 metres to the south on the opposite side of the B3357.

White, P., 2013, Previously Unsurveyed Dartmoor Historic Farmsteads, Merrivale Warren (Un-published). SDV352501.

Merrivale Warren warrener's lost settlement.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 2015-2017, 2015-2017 Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV361462.

Visible on the aerial photography.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, MER-27 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

Visited 19/10/2019. Farmhouse covered with grass and reed with one gorse outcrop. Enclosure wall covered with grass and reeds with occasional gorse outcrops. Overall condition very good. Photo X2 taken.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording photographs, MER-27 (Photograph). SDV363073.

Photo of farmhouse looking 300° showing grass and reed cover with one gorse outcrop. Photo of enclosure wall looking 000° showing grass and reed cover with occasional gorse outcrops.

Historic England, 2021-2022, NRHE to HER website, Accessed 15/10/2021 (Website). SDV364039.

[1355487/SX57SE187] Scheduling amendment data: The remains of a post medieval farmstead south of Merrivale Warren. The farmstead comprises the ruins of a two-roomed building, together with two enclosures, one contemporary and the other prehistoric. The drystone walls of the building measure 1 metre thick and stand up to 0.9 metres high. An open-ended rectangular enclosure attached to the southern side of the building may have served as a small garden. The house also adjoins a prehistoric enclosure, which may have been reused as a field. The farmstead dates to the first half of the 19th century. Scheduled. (12/01/1996)

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4830 - Survey of guardianship area, Merrivale

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