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Summary

A small prehistoric enclosure covering an area of roughly 0.2 hectares immediately east of Eastern Tor. The north and west walls of this feature have been disturbed by more recent wall building and inside are the remains of two hut circles, both 8m in diameter.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1010652: Enclosure with hut circles on Eastern Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56NE50
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 438641
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/20
• Old SAM County Ref: 572
• Old SAM Ref: 10712

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 4286-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1977, SX56NE50 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV216445.

(29/05/1951) At Eastern Tor; an enclosure but no trace visible. Inturned entrance containing two huts. After doubts that this enclosure existed, the site was confirmed through a visit in 1950. Other details: Plan.
(29/06/1977) There is no evidence of the enclosure of approximately 1 1/2 hectares depicted on the Ordnance Survey 6 inch 1954 historic map, but there is a small oval one of 1/4 hectare at SX 58536650. This, 50.0m by 40.0m is situated on level ground at 350m OD at the crest of a south-east slope.
The enclosure wall incorporates orthostats up to 0.6m high with stones spread to a width of 3.0m which on the east tails away to a scarp. This rests on a strong wall along the east side which extends beyond the enclosure and has been rebuilt to some extent in Medieval or later times. An entrance with transverse slabs through this wall may be original. Within there is one single slab walled hut circle, type 1, (Type site SX 56 SE 19) of 5.5m internal diameter with a south-east entrance and a small contiguous annexe.
There is an apparently double walled orthostatic type 2 hut circle (Type site SX 56 NE 71) at SX 58536649, partly stripped, but with an internal diameter of 5.5m. It has, oddly, a quantity of earthfast stone occupying the interior and very little in the interspace of the walling. The enclosure may have been occupied at different periods but which is the earlier cannot be determined by visual inspection.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD. Enlargement at 1:1000.

Ministry of Works, 1965, Enclosure with hut circles on Eastern Tor (Schedule Document). SDV216444.

This enclosure with hut circles lies on the south-east facing slope of Eastern Tor, above the north bank of the River Plym. It is irregular in shape, its eastern side having been incorporated in a later intake wall. The bank is built of earth and stone with some very large boulders and is up to 2.5 meters in width and 0.4 meters in height generally, but up to 1.0 meter in height where the large boulders stand. The enclosure is subdivided by a wall cutting off the north-eastern end and there are two freestanding hut circles in the larger part of the enclosure. These hut circles are both 8.0 meters in diameter with double faced walls 1.0 meter in thickness and 0.3 meters in height. The southern hut has large stones up to 0.6 meters in height incorporated in its walls and an entrance to the north-east. The northern hut has an entrance to the west. The enclosure covers an area of approximately 0.3 hectares.

National Monuments Record, 1976, NMR SX5866, 1/4 (Aerial Photograph). SDV217387.

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

Partitioned enclosure in two parts. Two hut circles freestanding within enclosure. Enclosure is incorporated into field boundary of field system (SX56NE/379) along its long axis. Area approximately 0.25 hectares.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 125, Figure 49.10, Map 49 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Eastern Tor Prehistoric Settlement seems to have had five separate enclosures. Enclosure 'A' is the only moderately complete structure though reconstructed on the downhill side. It was subdivided into unequal portions and contains two hut circles of 4.5 and 6.5 metres diameter.

Fletcher, M. + Newman, P. + Probert, S., 1999, Drizzlecombe, Eylesbarrow, Ditsworthy and Hartor areas in the Plym Valley, West Devon (Report - Survey). SDV346268.

(03/08/1999) Centred SX 58536649. A small sub-circular enclosure of prehistoric origin adjoins a post-medieval field wall immediately east of Eastern Tor. The enclosure covers an area of 0.02 hectares and is bounded on the west and south by turf and stone banks around 1.7m wide and 0.4m high. The northern side has been robbed to provide walling material for the drystone wall that overlies the eastern boundary of the enclosure. The remains of two hut circles lie within the enclosure:
SX 58546649. A well-defined hut circle 6.2m in diameter possessing a level though rubble strewn interior. Traces of both internal and external facing stones survive in the walls which measure 1.4m wide and 0.4m high. There is no obvious entrance.
SX 58526649. A circular, irregularly faced stoney bank with an internal diameter of 3.8m and measuring 6.5m overall. Again there is no obvious entrance and this feature, unusually for a hut circle, possesses a sloping interior. It is possible that these remains constitute a denuded cairn.

Whitbourn, A., 2001, An Archaeological Investigation into features comprising, and associated with, Ditsworthy Warren, 13-16, 79, Photographs 3-5 (Report - Assessment). SDV360381.

Part of the Bronze Age settlement on the south-east slope of Eastern Tor incorporating several hut circles.

Newman, P. + Probert, S., 2005, Ringmoor Training Area: Monument Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV363484.

(10/03/2005) These features remain as described by English Heritage (1999).

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

Enclosure shown on survey.

Probert, S. A. J., 2010, A Condition Survey of the Archaeological Sites of Ringmoor, Dartmoor Training Area (Report - Survey). SDV360517.

Newman, P., 2018, Archaeological Sites within Ringmoor Training Area, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: A condition survey on behalf of Defence Infrastructure Organisation (Report - Survey). SDV361636.

Ordnance Survey, 2018, MasterMap 2018 (Cartographic). SDV360652.

Enclosure shown on modern mapping.

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

Enclosure shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1010652 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

This enclosure with hut circles lies on the south-east facing slope of Eastern Tor, above the north bank of the River Plym. It is irregular in shape, its eastern side having been incorporated in a later intake wall. The bank is built of earth and stone with some very large boulders and is up to 2.5 metres in width and 0.4 metres in height generally, but up to 1 metres in height where the large boulders stand. The enclosure is subdivided by a wall cutting off the north-eastern end and there are two freestanding hut circles in the larger part of the enclosure. These hut circles are both 8 metres in diameter with double faced walls 1 metre in thickness and 0.3 metres in height. The southern hut has large stones up to 0.6 metres in height incorporated in its walls and an entrance to the north-east. The northern hut has an entrance to the west. The enclosure covers an area of circa 0.3 hectares.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4966 - Survey of Drizzlecombe, Eylesbarrow, Ditsworthy and Hartor. The Eylesbarrow archaeological landscape
• EDV7443 - Condition survey of archaeological sites in Ringmoor Training Area
• EDV7551 - Ditsworthy Warren: An archaeological investigation
• EDV7569 - Condition survey of Ringmoor Down training area
• EDV8155 - Plym Valley Survey
• EDV8227 - Ringmoor Training Area: Monument Baseline Condition Survey

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