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Summary

Hut circle shown on historic mapping on the west side of the Willings Wall Reave of 6.5 metres in diameter with walls 1.4 metres wide by up to 0.7 metres high

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019083: Medieval farmstead and field system, length of Willings Walls Reave, four round cairns, a ring cairn and pillow mounds at Willings Walls Warren

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SE1
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/12
• Old SAM County Ref: 494
• Old SAM Ref Revised: 24231
• Old SAM Ref: 10646
• Pastscape: 439106

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HUT CIRCLE (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

Western of two 'Hut Circles' shown on 19th century map.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX56SE1, SX56SE1, 'A' (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV139120.

01/06/1950 One of two hut circles. Walling of small stones and turf which is heavily overgrown with heather and bracken. No obvious entrance.

Fleming, A. + Collis, J. + Jones, R. L., 1973, A Late Prehistoric Reave System near Cholwich Town, Dartmoor, 4 (Article in Serial). SDV358808.

Fleming suggests that these huts were related to the original setting out of Willings Walls reave for strategic and topographical considerations.

Ordnance Survey, 1975, 75/369/145 (Aerial Photograph). SDV139126.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1977, SX56SE1, SX56SE1 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV363465.

SX 5820 6494. The open settlement consists of 2 type 1 hut circles and a yard, and lies by an opening in the reave (SX 56 NE 123), on a gentle, well drained slope at 335m above OD. The larger hut circle, internal diameter 7.2m has a wall, about 1m wide, in poor condition, with a south facing entrance. It is built opposite the
opening and to the west of the reave.
This settlement is contemporary with the reave and was possibly built to control the opening. The gap, 19m wide seems original, since there is no visual evidence of robbed walling and there is a distinct realignment to the north to accommodate the entrance gap. (Type site SX 56 SE 19). 1:10 000 Survey on PFD/AO Model.
Enlargement Survey at 1:1000 scale for AO Records.

National Monument Record, 1977, SX5864, 2 (Aerial Photograph). SDV139162.

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

Visible on the 1977 aerial photograph and recorded on map overlay.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 67, A23 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

SX 5818 6496 Ring cairn Willings Walls reave. Stone ring with internal diameter 6.8m, bank 1.5m wide and 0.5m high. Just outside a break in the reave.
(See Notes field)

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 140753, 15/04/1995 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(Visited 15/4/1995) The western of two hut circles (SX 5819 6494). Survives as a bank of earth and stone. Simple plan, coursed and rubble bank walling type. 6.5 metres in diameter, defined by a 1.4 metre wide wall standing up to 0.7 metres high. A gap in the surrounding wall faces south and may represent an original doorway.
The National Trust Upper Plym inventory suggests that this structure 'has the appearance more of a ring cairn than a hut circle', but still describe it as a hut circle, although elsewhere within the inventory it is described as a ring cairn. The National Trust inventory also states that the central excavation unit 'suggests that the slight kink in the reave around this hut circle, indicated that the hut circle predates the reave'.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 162-4. map 51, Figure 51.6 (Monograph). SDV137656.

'Hut group 'D''indicated to the north west of the 'Upper Spanish Lake hut groups'. Described under 'Willings Walls South huts, enclosure and cairns' as a well preserved hut circle of 7.0 metres diameter.

Thackray, C., 1994, The Upper Plym Valley: the management of an historic landscape, 123,182/102.479,566 and 567 (Report - non-specific). SDV143510.

Probert, S. A. J. + Fletcher, M. J., 2002, Plym Valley survey (Report - Survey). SDV350782.

(05/04/2002) Centred SX 58216494. A well-preserved hut circle and two sub-rectangular structures lie adjacent to the Willings Walls Reave 250m north-east of Spanish Lake.
SX 5821 6495. The hut circle is well preserved and consists of a level platform 6.6m north to south by 6.3m bounded by stony walls 1.6m wide and 0.4m high internally. There is no obvious entrance.
The gap in the reave described by the Ordnance Survey in 1977 is where it is bisected by the later enclosure bank and ditch which can be traced for some distance in both directions.

English Heritage, 2005-2008, Prehistoric Survey Information (Cartographic). SDV345521.

Hut circle shown on survey.

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

Clearly visible on the aerial photography.

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

(11/03/2020) Conditioned assessed as very good; no damage agents recorded as affecting this feature.

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

Image taken during March 2020 visit.

Ordnance Survey, 2021, MasterMap 2021 (Cartographic). SDV364015.

'Hut Circles' shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1019083 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

The two stone hut circles lying adjacent to an entrance in the reave survive as banks of earth and stone surrounding an internal area. The larger hut lies west of the reave, its interior measures 6.5 metres in diameter and is defined by a 1.4 metres wide coursed and rubble bank standing up to 0.7 metres high. A gap in the wall faces south and may represent an original doorway. The second hut is attached to the eastern side of the reave and this survives as a 1.6 metres wide and 0.6 metres high rubble bank surrounding an oval interior measuring 4 metres long by 3.4 metres wide.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8148 - The Upper Plym Valley: The Management of an Historic Landscape
• EDV8155 - Plym Valley Survey: EH Project (Feb 2001 - Dec 2002)

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