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Summary

A Bronze Age enclosed hut circle settlement and three hut circles situated a short distance to the south east. This site is on the local list of Nationally Important Dartmoor sites.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Group of Bronze Age hut circle settlements west of Quickbeam Hill, adjacent to the River Erme, consisting of three sets of enclosures, two conjoined, with over ten associated hut circles

Other References/Statuses

• Dartmoor Non-designated Heritage Asset (Evidential): NI Site
• National Monuments Record: SX66SW11
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442193
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66SW/47

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.

Two adjoining enclosures shown on 19th century map as 'Hut Circles' with three associated hut circles.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/3G/TUD/UK/223, 5128-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDV147275.

Visible.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1977, SX66SW11 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV165742.

(1950) Enclosed settlement lying on a slope. Sub-triangular enclosure at SX63946377 with hut circle in line of the walls. Sub-rectangular enclosure to west at SX63916375 built in to the first. Contains one, possibly two hut circles. Enclosures and hut circles in good condition.
(08/08/1977) Centred SX 63936374 This enclosed settlement, consisting of 2 enclosures, and 3 detached hut circles lies on a gentle to steep, well drained, clitter free, south west facing slope at 380m above OD.
A : SX 63946377. This sub-triangular enclosure, 45m by 20m and 0.1 ha, has slight turf covered walls, 1.1m wide, built of small stones and is in poor condition. A Type 1 hut circle, internal diameter 6.7m and wall 1.5m wide lies on the line of the enclosure wall.
B : SX 63916375. This sub-rectangular enclosure, 55m northeast-southwest by 40m transversely and of 0.2 ha is built onto and postdates enclosure A. The walling, 1.2m wide, is of small stones and is in poor condition. A Type 3 hut circle with an internal diameter of 7.6m has a wall 1.6m wide and 0.9m high. It has a south facing entrance 1.0m wide denoted by transverse slabs and is cut back into the slope on the line of the wall, as are the remains of a possible Type 2 hut circle. This has an internal diameter of 6.6m, an orthostatic wall 1.2m wide, and a possible internal compartment of 3.0m diameter.
The two adjoining Type II hut circles, average internal diameter 7.2m have walls 1.8m wide with south facing entrances; they are in poor condition and are cut back into the slope. The third, freestanding, hut circle, internal diameter 7m, is terraced and has fragmentary walling, 1.2m wide of small stones.
There is no evidence of cultivation within or adjacent to the settlement.
(Type 1 huts : SX 56 SE 19; Type 2, SX 56 NE 71; Type 3 SX 67 SE 56).
1:10 000 Survey revised on MSD.

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

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

An agglomerated enclosure of two elements is visible, with four hut circles attached to its walls (the easternmost element is the sub-triangular enclosure described by the Ordnance Survey, 1977). There is a group of three unenclosed hut circles to the north-west, and three unenclosed hut circles to the south-east, two of which are attached to each other and to a short length of reave.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 53-55,
ap 54, Figure 54.14 (Monograph). SDV337765.

Enclosure 'B' at Dry Lake North. This conjoined enclosure seems to have originated as an elongated narrow pound with a hut circle incorporated into the north-western end. A larger plot seems to have been added to the south-west side of this pound at a later date. This area includes two large hut circles, one of which is very substantial, and the partial remains of what may have been a much smaller building. These enclosures are much less solidly built than the enclosure to the south.

Gerrard, S., 2004, List of Sites Remaining to be Considered for Designation on Dartmoor (Un-published). SDV345444.

Two contiguous enclosures with a common wall running north-south. The western enclosure measures approximately 45.0 by 45.0 meters, the eastern enclosure approximately 45.0 by 25.0 meters. The walls are well preserved except the north and west walls of the larger enclosure, which are mostly whortleberry-covered. Height 0.6 meters varying. A group of nine hut circles is associated with this site.
This site was considered for designation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument during the Monument Protection Programme. The programme ended before the entire list of sites was successfully scheduled so this is included on a local list of Nationally Important Sites.

Ordnance Survey, 2010, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV344030.

Enclosures shown on modern mapping.

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

Two adjoining features visible on aerial photograph.

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

Enclosures surveyed.

Newman, P., 2018, The Upper Erme Valley, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: An Archaeological Survey, Appendix 1, Figures 13 & 30 (Report - Survey). SDV362921.

A conjoined enclosure of two elements and three hut circles on the moderate eastern slope of the River Erme to the north of Dry Lake, whose layout demonstrates a chronological progression (as described by J Butler, 1993). The enclosures remain as turf-covered stony banks, now spread up to 3 metres in places. The banks remain mostly to less than 0.5 metres high, though some parts exceed that. Very fragmentary evidence of stone facings survive on the exterior and interior of the walls in the form of intermittent edge-set slabs. The primary (eastern) enclosure covers 0.08 hectares while the larger western example is 0.18 hectares. All three hut circles are built into the enclosure wall.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, UE-29 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

(10/02/2019) Recorded by volunteer condition assessor. Condition assessed as very good. The site is on open grass land not crossed by any major paths. The vegetation here borders on an area of courser grass to its east (uphill) but is generally fine quality attractive to livestock. Some patches of reed/grass have accumulated where water pools in the interior of the houses and in the exterior ‘drip gullies’ and moss is growing over the stones of the walls. It has remained largely unchanged for at least the last ten years.

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

Photographs taken in February 2019.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8082 - Survey of the Upper Erme Valley

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