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Summary

Enclosure with eight sub-divisions, courts or pens and two hut circles. A number of later structures have been built into these enclosures.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1012765: Unenclosed stone hut settlement with enclosures north of Piles Copse

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX66SW46
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442312
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66SW/15
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66SW/151
• Old SAM County Ref: 813
• Old SAM Ref: 10521

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSED 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.

Group of 'Hut Circles' shown on 19th century map.

National Monuments Record, 1969, NMR SX6463, 3 (Aerial Photograph). SDV165976.

Hankin, C. F., 1977-1980, Harford Parish Checklist (Worksheet). SDV149931.

Site visited in July 1977 and 24th April 1978. About 70 metres east of the River Erme on ground rising steeply to the east. There are several clitters on the hillside, and the stony nature of the ground makes the site difficult to interpret. An enclosure of indeterminate shape, c.irca 25-30 metres wide north-south. The north wall stands about 0.9 metres high. The east boundary merges into the rocks of the steeply rising hill. The west is bounded by a steep drop in the ground towards the river. On the south and east within the enclosure there are several small areas, 5 metres-14 metres wide, bounded by the remains of stone walls, the interiors having a platform like nature. Near the north wall, within the enclosure, there is a so called tinners cache, and just outside the south east there is a small rectangular structure of stones 2.1 metres by 1.5 metres outside measurements, placed to form a trough-like cavity within, about 0.5 metres deep. Outside the enclosure to the east at a distance of 20 metres there are two hut circle type of structures, but these have the appearance of levelled platforms surrounded by walls, diameter circa 7 metres. The south wall of one has been removed. The suggestions of a moor path pass round the south-east side of the enclosure coming from the south east in the direction of Sharptor, but this may have been a sheep track. It seems possible that the site was used by tinners at some period, and that shelters may have been built within the enclosure and that hut circles were converted to the same use.

Price, D. G., 1981, A Settlement Site on Harford Moor, 53-57, Figure 1 (Article in Serial). SDV165868.

Settlement on a steep valley side with thin soil cover. Two groups of huts, one with 10 and one with 21 huts, within 150 metres of each other, forming one settlement. The group of 10 has a ring cairn associated with it and another possibly ritual monument. The other group is divided into two elements, with 15 huts and two rectangular structures on the slope, and the remainder on a ledge. The presence of rectangular structures and the trace of a track suggest that the site was used in medieval times, or later, in connection with tinning. The settlement is surprisingly large for a difficult site and could not have been occupied primarily for agricultural purposes because of the difficulty of the position and competition for grazing land. Suggested that external source of subsistence was to offer tin in exchange. Because of the later medieval presence it is hard to establish the existence of a Bronze Age tin industry.

Robinson, R., 1982, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1982 (Un-published). SDV345608.

Site visited on 2nd June 1982.

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

Eight hut circles are visible on aerial photographs (five attached) and two small enclosures.

Robinson, R., 1986, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1986 (Un-published). SDV345664.

Site visited on 19th December 1986.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 48-50, Map 54, Figure 54.9 (Monograph). SDV337765.

'Three Barrows West 2'. Settlement sited between a substantial outcrop and a steep fall to the River Erme. The massive northern boundary wall has been partly lost with occasional glimpses of layered stonework showing careful construction. The interior has been sub-divided into a number of thick walled courts around the edge and some lesser banks including an oval-shaped pound near the centre. A beehive Hut 1 in the north-west corner appears to be a later tinner's feature like the tinner's cache (2) in the outer wall by the main entrance. Three small huts are built into the settlement. Hut 3 of 3.0 metres diameter, Hut 4 of 3.5 metres diameter and Hut 5 of 1 metre diameter. There was probably another Hut 6 slightly to the north-west of the settlement.

Newman, P., 2018, Erme Valley Survey data (GIS and Excel spreadsheet) (Cartographic). SDV361913.

Settlement shown on survey.

Newman, P., 2018, The Upper Erme Valley, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: An Archaeological Survey, Appendix 1 - MDV 19978 (Report - Survey). SDV362921.

A prehistoric enclosure on the eastern lower slopes of the River Erme, 300 metres north of Piles Copse. The enclosure is an approximate oval, covering 4 hectares with eight sub-divisions, courts or pens and two hut circles. The southern boundary of the enclosure was built onto the lip of a scarp and has now partly spread down the slope. The northern boundary is built into the base of a steep, rocky drop within a patch of clitter. The walls consist of clitter which has been manually organised into linear piles to form a crude revetment. Four interior pens or bays have been constructed against this outer wall, also formed by simple linear boulder piles. Four additional small interior enclosures have been constructed in a more conventional method using boulders to form coursed wall, though these are now very much tumbled and spread into the slope with a turf covering in places. Two adjacent hut circles are built into the walls of the southernmost enclosure. Both are poorly preserved, though they contain some in-situ boulders, and have approximate internal diameters of 4 metres. A number of later structures have been built into these enclosures (see separate entries MDV13230; 13232; 13233). This area of the Erme Valley is affected by a dense covering of bracken in the summer months, totally obscuring these remains.

Ordnance Survey, 2020, MasterMap 2020 (Cartographic). SDV363413.

Settlement shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2020, National Heritage List for England, 1012765 (National Heritage List for England). SDV363414.

This unenclosed stone hut settlement on the steep eastern slope of the Erme Valley, consists of twenty-two hut circles, with enclosures and lengths of bank. The huts are terraced into the hillside and lie in two main groups, ranging in size from 5 to 11 metres with walls up to 3 metres thick and 1 metre high, there are small enclosures and sections of wall or bank associated with the huts.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8082 - Survey of the Upper Erme Valley

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