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Summary

Dispersed unenclosed settlement consisting of at least five prehistoric hut circles with a closely associated ?cairn and later tin workers building. See related records for detail.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1012573: Stone hut circle 655m south-west of Beardown Man forming part of a dispersed settlement on the eastern slope of Conies Down Tor
• Scheduled Monument 1012572: Stone hut circle 635m south-west of Beardown Man forming part of a dispersed settlement on the eastern slope of Conies Down Tor
• Scheduled Monument 1012546: Enclosure and stone hut circle 535m south-west of Beardown Man forming part of the dispersed settlement on the eastern slope of Conies Down Tor
• Scheduled Monument 1012569: Stone hut circle 530m south-west of Beardown Man forming part of a dispersed settlement on the eastern slope of Conies Down Tor
• SHINE: Earthwork and walling remains of an unenclosed Bronze Age hut circle settlement north-east of Conies Down Tor, comprising eight hut circles, a Bronze Age cairn and fragmentary enclosure and a post Medieval Tinner's cache

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57NE73
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NE/122
• Old SAM County Ref: 551
• Old SAM Ref: 22260
• Pastscape: 439584?

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP, 21/4/1992 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Dispersed unenclosed settlement. See subsheets. (NB the above ground constituents of this settlement are individually (provisionally) scheduled).

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 64-5, 125 Map 29 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Depicted and described by Butler.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1993-1998, Dartmoor Royal Forest Project (Report - Survey). SDV346608.

(11/07/1994) Centred SX 59137825. A settlement and cairn located on a slight shelf on the otherwise steep east-facing slope above the right bank of the River Cowsic. The site comprises two enclosures, two hut circles, a rectangular building platform and a cairn.
The conjoined enclosures measure roughly 60m by 50m and 30m by 35m respectively and are bounded by stony banks, 1.2m wide and up to 0.6m high. There are no obvious entrances through the fragmentary banks. The hut circles and building platform are integral with the common wall between the enclosures. The cairn occupies a position slightly north of centre in the southernmost enclosure.
SX 59137826. The W hut. It consists of a levelled platform, 3.0m (N-S) by 2.6m, enclosed by the remains of a wall measuring 1.3m wide and 0.3m high; a gap on the SW may indicate the position of the entrance.
SX 59147825. The E hut. A circular platform, 3.5m in diameter, with enclosing wall measuring 1.3m wide and 0.6m high. There is no obvious entrance though there are breaks in the wall on the W and SW.
SX 59167825. The building platform. It represents the site of a small structure situated in the angle formed by the junction of two field walls. It consists of a levelled rectangular platform which measures 2.7m (N-S) by 1.6m. Field walls form the S and E sides while a slight scarp marks the western extremity. The N wall is defined by a single granite slab.
SX 59157824. The cairn. Its dimensions are 7.2m (N-S) by 7.0m and 0.5m high. A small hollow, 1.0m (N-S) by 0.8m and 0.3m deep, lies slightly N of centre. A massive slab is situated on the western edge of the cairn; it may represent a displaced capstone though there is no evidence of a cist in the hollow. There is no trace of a kerb.

Newman, P., 2004, Merrivale Range Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV346874.

(30/03/2004) See related records. The cairn is more likely to be a very overgrown hut circle.

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

Hut circles, enclosure and cairn depicted on the survey.

Newman, P., 2018, Archaeological Sites within Merrivale Training Area, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: A condition survey on behalf of Defence Infrastructure Organisation (Report - Survey). SDV361635.

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

All but the most southerly of the huts are depicted on the modern mapping at their surveyed locations.

Historic England, 2018, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV360653.

Note: the scheduled areas for the features concerned in this area are in need of refining; all polygon features lie approximately 40-50m north-north-west of the actual locations of the features (Richards, A. F., 21/08/2018).

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

Scheduled. NB: polygon for this (and all of features in the group) are inaccurate; they lie around 40-50m north-north-west of actual feature locations. This has contributed to duplicate records in the NRHE; correctly linked to features here, based on the 2018 survey information (Richards, A. F., 24/08/2021).

Historic England, 2021-2022, NRHE to HER website (Website). SDV364039.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7441 - Condition survey of the archaeological sites of Merrivale Training Area
• EDV7570 - Condition survey of Merrivale Range training area
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8713 - Merrivale Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.