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Summary

A well-defined hut circle levelled into a west-facing hillslope. It measures overall 10.0 metres in diameter with a level interior which is 7.0 metres across with 0.4 metre front and back scarps. The walling which is damaged in the south-east quadrant has a boulder/stone core with inner and outer facings of slabs and boulders a maximum 0.7 metres high. The position of the entrance is not clear.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Bronze age landscapes on Shaugh Moor and Wooter Moor comprising earthworks and walling of enclosures, hut circles, cairns, stone circles and rows, reaves and field systems, and medieval and post medieval field systems
• Scheduled Monument 1002520: Hut circles W of Saddlesborough

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SE49
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439248
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/319
• Old SAM County Ref: 431

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/3G/TUD/UK/223, RAF/3G/TUD/UK/223 Vp 2 5140-5141 12-JUL-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV352279.

Stone settings are visible in a circular plan.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1980, SX56SE49 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV150218.

(11/10/1950) Four hut circles, one lying outside the northern boundary of the fields.
(04/09/1980) A rather ruinous but large hut 8.00 in diameter and wall 2.00m thick in which are set many large orthostats. The western half of the hut wall has been removed but the entrance appears to have been orientated south-west. It is sited to the north of the main Saddlesbrough reave on ground sloping gently from east to west. ('A').
Three huts, A, C, and D (see plan) are of Type 2 (SX 56 NE 71) with internal diameters ranging between 7.3m. and 8.3m. and double walling from 1.4m. to 1.8m. wide and up to 1.1m. high. Where visible entrances are to the SW and SE. 'A' outside the field system is much robbed. Hut 'B' is of Type 1 (SX 56 SE 19) and has an internal diameter of 2.9m. The apparently single walling is now represented by five stones around the perimeter with maximum height of 0.4m. Condition poor. (See SX 56 SE 78 for associated field system).
Surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD.

Price, D. G., 1973, Ancient fields on Shaugh Moor, 90 map. (Article in Serial). SDV147593.

National Monuments Record, 1978, NMR SX5563, 3/223 (Aerial Photograph). SDV152488.

Collis, J., 1983, Field Systems and Boundaries on Shaugh Moor and at Wotter, Dartmoor, 59-60, Figure 6. (Article in Serial). SDV144058.

House "A". Double row of stones up to 1.0 metre high. Internal diameter approximately 4.0 metres. Entrance on south-east with a collapsed orthostat. Line of stones bisects interior. Reave (SX56SE-115) robbed in this area, perhaps for the construction of the houses.

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

Hut circle plotted in 1985 project from 1978 aerial photograph.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 103-4, Map 48, Figure 48.4 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Hut circle '1' of 6.0 metres diameter within settlement 'D' on south side of Saddlesborough reave is free-standing with traces of an interior cross wall.

Fletcher, M. + Probert, S., 1998, Shaugh Moor, Devon: An Archaeological Survey (Report - Survey). SDV343481.

(Visited 02/12/1997) Centred at SX 5542 6338. A row of four hut circles situated on a west-facing hillslope in moorland lie between 258 metres and 267 metres above OD. Three of the huts which occur within the parallel reave system (SX 56 SE 78) almost certainly pre-date it as does the fourth hut which lies in isolation beyond the terminal reave.
SX 5547 6334. A well-defined hut circle levelled into a west-facing hillslope. It measures overall 10.0 metres in diameter with a level interior which is 7.0 metres across with 0.4 metre front and back scarps. The walling which is damaged in the south-east quadrant has a boulder/stone core with inner and outer facings of slabs and boulders a maximum 0.7 metres high. The position of the entrance is not clear.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 1999-2017, Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery SX5563 31-MAY-2016 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363087.

Stone settings are visible in a circular plan.

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

Hut circle shown on survey.

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

Hut clearly visible on the aerial photography.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, SM18 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

Visited 03/08/2019. The Royal Commission 1997 survey description more accurately describes the site however does not mention the curved line of stones that bisects the interior of the hut circle.
The reaves as shown on the map are in a good condition, clear and distinct in the landscape although by the hut circle the terminal (boundary) reave is disturbed. Site lightly visited by walkers and grazed by animals. Site is stable. Photo taken

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording photographs, SM18 (Photograph). SDV363073.

Visited 03/08/2019 Photo looking south west giving an overall view of the hut circle

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2019-2020, The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping Survey. Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (AI&M, formerly NMP) (Interpretation). SDV362982.

Concentric rings of stone settings up to circa 1.5m wide are visible defining a roughly circular enclosure up to circa 6.6m across, immediately south of the Saddlesborough reave on the north-west facing slopes on Shaugh Moor.
The stones are interpreted as the remains of a hut circle wall of probable Bronze Age date. It is possible that the hut circle predates, but was associated with the reave system.
It is not possible to identify an entrance with any confidence from the aerial photographic evidence alone.
No evidence of an earthwork bank associated with the wall is identifiable from the sources available to the survey.

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

Hut circle shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1002520 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

The monument includes four stone hut circles with parts of the Saddlesborough reave and the Shaugh Moor coaxial field system on a hillside overlooking the Plym Valley. The four stone hut circles straddle the Saddlesborough reave and three are within narrow rectangular fields which form part of the Shaugh Moor coaxial field system. The eastern hut survives as a freestanding building, within a field. The stone hut circles vary in size from 4 metres to 8 metres in diameter internally and are composed of a combination of rubble and double stone faced walls standing up to 2 metres wide and 1 metre high. The eastern hut circle has an interior cross wall.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8098 - The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping (formerly NMP) Survey, Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (Ref: ACD2040)

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