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Summary

Enclosure 'C' (Butler) originally recorded by the Ordnance Survey (1950), with five internal huts. The remains were described at this time as being vague and fragmentary. Later (1979) revised to six huts. Resurvey in 2006 identified ten possible huts within the enclosure, which measures 142 metres north-south by 112 metres east-west and is defined by a 2.0 metre wide and 0.7 metre high rubble wall. The north-east sector of the enclosure appears lost amid a large clitter field but a possible continuation of the wall skirts around the north side of the clitter to make a complete circuit enclosing 1.4 hectares.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1013474: Two enclosures and a length of the Eylesbarrow watershed reave 800m WSW of Eylesbarrow

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56NE20
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 438556
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/76
• Old SAM Ref: 10742

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSED SETTLEMENT (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 4353 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950-1979, SX56NE20 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV232098.

(Visited 10/6/1950) Remains of enclosure and hut circles, but so vague and fragmentary that it is impossible to recognise them with any degree of accuracy. The area is thick with heather and covered by large numbers of boulders and stones.
(Visited 15/03/1979) On the western slope Eylesbarrow at 345.0 metres OD is a sub-oval enclosure containing six huts. The enclosure, measuring 95.0 metres by 130.0 metres, is situated in an area of close boulders. The walling, 2.0 metres thick and 0.7 metres high is discontinuous and varied ranging from a collection of loose boulders to a wall with two neat orthostatic faces; the poor condition makes any entrances indeterminate. The huts are mainly of type 2 with interior diameters of 3.0 metres to 5.0 metres and walling of 1.0 metre thickness and 0.6 metres height. Entrances occur in the south-west and all have levelled interiors. At SX 59076853 the hut entrance is marked by two orthostats.
The site seems to be a Bronze Age settlement of typical Dartmoor type with an area of clearance to the north possibly representing associated fields. Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD.

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

Enclosure to the east of Combestone Tor. Two hut circles freestanding within enclosure, four hut circles attached to interior wall of enclosure. Curved length of walling attached to south of enclosure. Area approximately 1 hectare.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 133237, 07/06/1993 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(SX 5904 6853) Enclosure containing five hut circles. Linked to the nearby Eylesbarrow Reave by a lynchetted rubble boundary bank. Enclosure is irregular in shape, 142 metres north-south by 112 metres east-west and is defined by a 2.0 metre wide and 0.7 metre high rubble wall.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 68-70, 199 (Monograph). SDV137656.

A substantial bank links the reave to enclosure C (Eylesbarrow West), the only one not directly affected by the tinners'. Dense patches of surface stone sufficed as a barrier around half the perimeter and much stony ground was included in the circuit. The seven huts were well constructed but of no great size (3.2-5.3m), the largest being one of a pair near the centre.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 68-70, Map 47, Figure 47.6 (Monograph). SDV137656.

A substantial bank links the reave to enclosure 'C' at 'Eylesbarrow West', the only one not directly affected by the tinners. Dense patches of surface stone sufficed as a barrier around half the perimeter and much stony ground was included in the circuit. The seven huts were well constructed but of no great size (3.2-5.3 metres), the largest being one of a pair near the centre.

Wessex Archaeology, 2002, Cramber Tor Training Area Rapid Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV354588.

Cramber Tor Survey 2002, Site WA143.

Newman, P., 2007, Cramber Tor Training Area Monument Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV348210.

01/08/2006. Site resurvey demonstrated a possible total of ten hut circles. In two cases two huts are conjoined. The largest hut is 6.4 metres in diameter and the smallest 3.7 metres. The north-east sector of the enclosure appears lost amid a large clitter field but a possible continuation of the wall skirts around the north side of the clitter to make a complete circuit enclosing 1.4 hectares.

Probert, S., 2008, Follow-Up Works to Cramber Tor Archaeological Baseline Condition Survey, Dartmoor Training Area (Report - Survey). SDV351304.

Greeves, T., 2012, Cramber Tor Training Area. Monument Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV350251.

Probert, S. A. J., 2017, A Condition Survey of the Archaeological Sites of the Cramber Tor Training Area, Devon, 2017 (Report - Survey). SDV360392.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, WLK-DT28 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

Visited 07/2019. The enclosure is generally covered in bracken. A small area inside the south edge and a larger area inside the north eastern edge remain bracken free. Photo taken

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording photographs, WLK-DT28 (Photograph). SDV363073.

Visited 07/2019. Photo taken showing the south part of the enclosure wall disappearing into the bracken inundation

Historic England, 2021-2022, NRHE to HER website, Accessed 28/06/2021 (Website). SDV364039.

(06/10/2000) An enclosure, linked to the Eylesbarrow reave by a sinuous, 170 metre long, 2.7 metre wide and 0.8 metre high lynchetted rubble boundary bank. The enclosure measures 142 metres by 112 metres and is defined by a 2 metre wide and 0.7 metre high rubble wall. 5 stone hut circles lie within the enclosure. All are circular, except for one double hut circle, which has an oval room. The internal diameters of the huts vary between 3.6 metres and 5.2 metres, with an average of 4.36 metres. The height of the surrounding walls ranges from 0.5 metres to 0.7 metres, the average being 0.68 metres. One hut has 2 rooms, 4 possess visible doorways and one is attached to the enclosure boundary. A short length of leat, now dry, cuts through the centre of the enclosure. It would originally have carried water from the Narrator Brook to tinworks south of the enclosure. EH Scheduled Monument revision.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7382 - Condition Survey of the Cramber Tor Training Area
• EDV6034 - Monument Condition Survey in Cramber Tor Training Area
• EDV6152 - Follow-up Works to Threatened Sites in the Cramber Tor Training Area
• EDV6153 - Monument Baseline Condition Survey in the Cramber Tor Training Area
• EDV8711 - Condition Survey of the Cramber Tor Training Area

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