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Summary

Bronze Age settlement of at least 50 round houses, several lengths of rubble walling and at least two cairns. Many of the round houses are apparently unenclosed, although short lengths of walling indicate that a field system or group of enclosures may have once been associated with this settlement.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1011174: Thirty-six stone hut circles and an irregular aggregate field system forming part of an unenclosed stone hut circle settlement 450m north of Hart Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57SE20
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 440082
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57SE/42
• Old SAM County Ref: 831
• Old SAM Ref: 22303

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

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

Over 20 'Hut Circles' shown on 19th century map.

Baring Gould, S., 1896, Third Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, 189-191 (Article in Serial). SDV260468.

About 40 hut circles and cattle-pens to the north of Hart Tor.
Hut 1. Entrance south-west. Close to west wall is a flat stone, 700 millimetres by 600 millimetres, perhaps the hearth. A cooking hole is nearly in the centre of the hut, containing charcoal. 300 millimetres north-east of this hole was a second, also containing charcoal. One of these holes had been filled up with small stones, apparently to level it up to the floor when second hole made. Some paving might have been a platform, no kerb. Large smoothing stone found, similar to "rubber" stones found at Cullacombe. Flint scraper and two frag. Found. No pottery or cooking stones.
Hut 2. Doorway facing south-west, only partially explored. Apparently not a human habitation.
Hut 3. Five cooking stones found.
Hut 4. Entrance to south-south-west. Mostly paved, hearthstone in floor, and cooking hole found, some indications of a platform. Two pieces of flint found.
Hut 5. Nearly circular. Large flattish stone, set upright, was found facing the entrance in opposite wall. Hearth and cooking hole on left side of entrance. Charcoal found and fragments of pottery, some showing shape of a lip of the vessel, lines of zigzag pattern on the outside. Two flint flakes and six cooking stones found.
Hut 7. Entrance to south-west. No hearth recognised. Cooking hole.
Hut 8. Entrance to south-south-west. Cooking hole to left of entrance and near hearth. Cooking stones found and charcoal.
Huts 9 and 10. Nothing found. Probably cattle-sheds.
Hut 11. Large. In middle a large mound of stone and earth, no charcoal. Not fully explored.
Hut 12. Entrance to south-south-west. Near centre of hut, not paved, was large cooking pit or fireplace, stone-lined, extending down to bed of china clay that showed traces of fire. Much charcoal. Large pieces of charred wood, alder, oak and beech. On left of entrance was found a roughly circular, thin slab of micaceous slate, broken by the pick, under which were fragments of a crushed shallow pottery vessel. Part of lip found. On floor was a good rubber, a second broken one, and a flint scraper and a roughly oval piece of slate.
Hut 13. No traces of charcoal and hut not explored.
Hut 14. A true circle. Entrance south-south-west. Near centre was a sunken fireplace, stone-lined, similar to that in Hut 12. The clay bed reddened with fire. Much charcoal found and burnt stones removed. Pottery, rubber and oval flint scraper found. May have been baking place for pottery. Huts 15-18. Examined but showed no sign of human occupancy.

Ordnance Survey, 1906, 106SE (Cartographic). SDV336769.

Hut circles marked on early 20th century map.

Worth, R. H., 1945, The Dartmoor Hut Circles, 238,244 (Article in Serial). SDV246120.

Royal Air Force, 1946 - 1949, Royal Air Force Aerial Photographs, 2149 4437 (Aerial Photograph). SDV342938.

Photograph taken on 11th July 1947.

Royal Air Force, 1964, F62/58/6399, 040 (Aerial Photograph). SDV272301.

Photograph taken on 2nd July 1964.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX57SE20 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV271930.

(16/06/1980) Centred at SX58587244 is an open settlement of 39 huts covering nearly 5 hectares of a heather-covered south-west slope between 360 metres and 388 metres OD. Some huts are densely overgrown and in poor condition but all appear to be of Type 2.
The interiors are levelled with internal diameters ranging from 3.0m to 7.7m and walling averaging 1.2m wide and 0.6m high. The greater proportion of the entrances are to the south-west and south-east (see plan).
Two huts (A & B on plan), at SX 58207247 and SX 58147240 are sub- divided, and 'B' has an additional small stone hut on the east side.
Hut 'C' at SX58177238, 2 huts are joined, and at SX58187252 there is a distinctly oval Hut 'D' with internal measurements of 4.9 metres by 3.3 metres. At SX58117262 a Hut 'E' has evidently been reconstructed with coursed walling 0.7 metres high. It is in close proximity to tin streaming and may have served as a tinners' hut although there is no obvious entrance.
Some fragmentary boulder and rubble walls, particularly in the northern part of the settlement, suggest that the area incorporated a number of fields or plots, but with one exception they are poorly defined and no overall pattern or extent can be deduced.
Settlement surveyed at 1:1000 on MSD and at 1:2500.

Hemery, E., 1983, High Dartmoor, 134 (Monograph). SDV249702.

Additional bibliography.

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

Twelve hut circles are visible on aerial photographs and recorded, one of them (at SX58137262) with some attached fragments of walling.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 53-54, Map 46, Figure 46.1 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Well preserved large settlement at 'Hart Tor North' set well back from the river with 45 hut circles crowded together over some 300 metres of the hillside. Most of the huts are well constructed of 3.0 metres to 7.5 metres diameter with the larger buildings near the centre of the group. Eighteen of the hut circles were excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1896 of which almost half showed 'signs of occupancy' such as cooking holes, hearths and pottery fragments suggesting that about twenty buildings had been used as dwellings. No plans accompanied the report and the huts were simply numbered but those excavated can be recognised by their sunken floors. (These are shown with a dot on the plan). A small area was enclosed by a pound at the north end of the site but the circuit was incomplete.

Gerrard, S., 1997, Meavy Valley Archaeology Interim Report for 1996, 20 (Report - Survey). SDV360393.

Gerrard, S., 1998, Hart Tor Prehistoric Settlement, 8 (Article in Serial). SDV254969.

A settlement of at least 50 round houses, several lengths of rubble walling and at least two, probably three cairns. Many of the round houses are apparently unenclosed, although short lengths of walling indicate that a field system or group of enclosures may have once been associated with this settlement. The best preserved boundary wall survives at the northern end of the settlement where an enclosed area measuring 35m by 21m defined by a 1.5m wide and 0m5 high rubble bank survives. Leading from this enclosed area is a second bank which curves southward enclosing a substantial area. A full description and the dimensions of each house is provided in this comprehensive report.

Fletcher, M. J., 2007-2008, Walkhampton Premier Archaeological Landscape; Field Investigation Project (Report - Survey). SDV359195.

(15/10/2007) The settlement is very well defined in open grass moorland. A number of the huts are very pronounced and some have clearly been partially reconstructed. A short length of a linear stone wall was identified at the northern limit of the settlement A disused 19th c. rifle range lies across the settlement (SX 57 SE 239) Surveyed at 1:2500 scale.

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

Many hut circles visible on aerial photograph.

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

'Settlement' of hut circle shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1011174 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

This monument includes 36 stone hut circles dispersed within an irregular aggregate field system situated on a gentle west-facing slope overlooking the valley of the River Meavy and forming part of a large unenclosed stone hut circle settlement between Hart Tor and Devil's Bridge. The stone hut circles are composed of stone and earth banks surrounding an internal area. Of the 36 hut circles, one is oval in plan and measures 6.3 metres long by 3 metres wide. The remaining 35 huts are circular in plan and the internal diameter of these buildings varies from 2.3 metres to 7 metres. The height of all the walls varies between 0.3 metres and 1 metres, with the average being 0.58 metres. At least seven of the huts contain hearths, two are conjoined, 21 have visible doorways, two have porches and five are attached to boundary walls. Eighteen of the huts were partly excavated in 1895 by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee. This work recovered large quantities of Bronze Age pottery, rubbing stones, flint scrapers, pot boilers and charcoal. The irregular aggregate field system survives as a series of low rubble walls standing up to 0.5 metres high. In the northern part of the monument three distinct field-plots are visible, whilst towards the south a few short lengths of fragmentary walling suggest that the remains of the field system are more extensive. Three 19th century granite rifle range distance markers survive within the monument. These are included within the scheduling since they provide important information concerning reuse of this area during the post-medieval period, and their removal would damage the underlying archaeological deposits. A further eight stone hut circles forming part of this extensive unenclosed stone hut circle settlement survive to the south and east of this monument. These are included in other proposals. A fragmentary field system lies to the east of the monument, but this is not included because not enough of the fields are visible to establish their character and extent.

Dick, A. M., unknown, Hart Tor Settlement (Personal Comment). SDV271923.

N. B. Forty-four hut circles proposed for scheduling under SAM 22303, but only 36 scheduled. Not possible to identify which 8 were omitted, therefore all 44 are recorded here as scheduled.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7517 - Survey of Hart Tor tin works
• EDV7525 - Survey of Hart Tor prehistoric settlement
• EDV8351 - Walkhampton Premier Archaeological Landscape; Field Investigation Project
• EDV8431 - Excavation at settlement, Rifle Range, Princetown

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