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Summary

Rifle Range surviving as a line of low granite posts about 600mm high beside a footpath leading to Hart Tor. Each is marked with its distance (in yards) from the target. It is suggested that it was constructed for use by guards at the nearby Dartmoor Prison although an alternative suggestion potential links it to use by the military; perhaps Devon Yeomanry.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1011185: Stone hut circle 330m north of Hart Tor forming part of an unenclosed stone hut circle settlement
• Scheduled Monument 1011174: Thirty-six stone hut circles and an irregular aggregate field system forming part of an unenclosed stone hut circle settlement 450m north of Hart Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57SE239
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1459781
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57SE/355

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• RIFLE RANGE (Built, XIX - 1850 AD (Between) to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

Rifle Range marked with the Target at the southern, uphill end and distances marked out at 50 yard intervals from 150 yards to 600 yards.

Jones, I., 1997, Unknown, 5 (Article in Serial). SDV254970.

Gerrard, S., 1998, Hart Tor Prehistoric Settlement (Meavy Valley Archaeology Site Report 8), 22 (Report - Survey). SDV254969.

A 19th century rifle range set into the hillside within an extensive prehistoric settlement (SX 57 SE 20).The range includes seven granite posts set up in a line leading away from a target. Each post has a distance in yards from the target carved in letters 4.5cms high into the upper surface (from 200 yards to 600 yards). The target includes a large 1.3m high rectangular heap of stone and earth with some particularly large slabs forming the edge facing the firing line. Behind the heap is a rubble filled rectangular stone-lined pit 4m long by 0.8m wide and 0.45m deep. An upright granite pillar standing 2.4m from the pit with two drilled holes cut through it may have formed part of the communication system. Immediately south-south-east of the stone is a substantial flat-bottomed scoop which measures 7m wide extends 5m into the slope and is up to 1.6m deep. This may represent a second target especially as the line of the distance markers leads directly to this hollow.

Fletcher, M. J., 2007-2008, Walkhampton Premier Archaeological Landscape; Field Investigation Project (Report - Survey). SDV359195.

(16/10/2007) This disused rifle range is set amongst the upstanding hut circles of the extensive settlement in the shadow of Hart Tor. The seven granite posts survive in situ at either 50 or 100 yard intervals. As previously noted these posts align onto a pronounced scoop in the hillside with a 1.4m - 1.6m high backscarp and a level floor. Perhaps this was the original location for the targets; the adjacent stone-faced mound with its rectangular trench to the rear served as the protection for the target setters although it might have at one time been a target. Surveyed at 1:2500 scale.

Ordnance Survey, 2014, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV355681.

Rifle Range (disused) marked, beside a path leading south from Devil's Bridge to Hart Tor.

Gillard, M., 2023, Note regarding the rifle range at Hart Tor (Personal Comment). SDV365543.

Personal research into the rifle range suggests that rather than being related to the prison, it may be military; the Ordnance Survey map of 1883 calls it the ‘Volunteer Rifle Range’. This implies that it was a military range; ‘Volunteer’ potentially indicating the Devon Yeomanry.
Further discussion has suggested the fact that the range goes to 600 yards indicates a probable 1850s (or later) date, around the time rifles became accurate over this range.

Dell, S., August 2014, Hart Tor Rifle Range, 65 (Article in Serial). SDV357124.

Rifle Range surviving as a line of low granite posts about 600mm high beside a footpath leading to Hart Tor. The row of posts goes through a Bronze Age settlement with one post actually set into the wall of one of the roundhouses. The date given varies from early 19th century to mid Victorian. Suggested that it was constructed for guards at the nearby Dartmoor Prison which was built by French and American POWs in 1806 but lay empty after the wars of that period until 1850 when began to be used for convicts and criminals. The target is at the Hart Tor end of the range. At this end is a granite post with two holes bored through at right angles. Adjacent to this post is a slit trench with an embankment on the firing side. Dell asks what was used for the target and suggests that the trench was used for cover by the soldier/guard looking after the target.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7517 - Survey of Hart Tor tin works
• EDV7525 - Survey of Hart Tor prehistoric settlement
• EDV8351 - Walkhampton Premier Archaeological Landscape; Field Investigation Project

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