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Summary

Two hut circles and part of an enclosure, situated in a prominent position of the moderate W slope of Hamel Down, on the edge of a steepening of the valley slope.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021394: Medieval strip fields, tinworks, prehistoric settlements, and a cairn on the lower western slopes of Hamel Down

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67NE35
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442483
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NE/15
• Old SAM County Ref: 518

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV298394.

Osa=sx67ne4. ? Field system

Shorter, A. H., 1948-1952, Hut Circles and Ancient Fields near Challacombe, Dartmoor, 102-5, FIG. (Article in Serial). SDV298393.

(SX 69667989) Two hut circles, one of which was partly excavated in 1938.
They interrupt a strip lynchet which runs from north-south. The 'upper' hut, diameter 9.75m, has an opening in the south-west marked by an orthostat and was excavated in 1938 exposing nine coarse sherds and five flints. Finds now in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter. The 'lower' hut, diameter 10.36m, remains unexcavated.

Royal Air Force, 1950, RAF/541/540, 3145-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDV285230.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1953, SX67NE35 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV298395.

(10/12/1953) SX 69667989. Two slightly angular hut circles, in good condition and set on a hillside sloping steeply to the west, and on that side have been built up to create a level platform. The walls, which are turf-covered, are constructed of earth and small stones.

National Monuments Record, 1977, SX6979, 1/35-7, 4/393-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDV314438.

Pearce, S. M., 1978, Devon in Prehistory (Monograph). SDV273286.

Flints and pottery have been found at a hut circle site if the West Webbourne valley, ? SX 685806, and are in Exeter City Museum, Acc. No. 17/1948. (This reference is very probably to this site).

National Monuments Record, 1980, SF1748, 249-260 (Aerial Photograph). SDV279663.

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

Two hut circles very close together and built either side on a strip lynchet. Visible on NMR 1980 aerial photograph.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit, P. Pattison (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(04/70/1990) SX 6965 7988. Two hut circles and part of an enclosure, situated in a prominent position of the moderate W slope of Hamel Down, on the edge of a steepening of the valley slope.
Both huts are terraced by cutting in on the E and massive building up on the W, their walls, vegetation-covered stony banks spread and probably enhanced by material from field clearance and the 1938 excavation.
A: SX 6966 7989. "Upper" hut: internal diam. 6.7m N-S by 4.8m. Walls are 3.8m-5.9m wide, standing on average 0.6m high. Several internal edge-set facing slabs are just visible. Terracing of the interior is achieved by cutting in on the E to 1.4m and building up to 1.7m on the W. There is an entrance on the S arc which has one flanking "jamb" set transversely in situ across the W side.
B: SX 6965 7988. "Lower" hut: internal diam. 6.4m N-S by 7m. Walls are between 2.8m and 4m wide, standing on average 0.5m high but no facing stones are visible. It is cut in 1.1m on the E and built up on the W 1.6m. No entrance is visible.
The hut walls merge but with no visible priority other than those of A, at a higher level, eroding and spreading over B. The huts lie on the N perimeter of an enclosure which has been severely damaged by the strip lynchet of field system SX 67 NE 111. Two sections survive: C on the south is a prominent, curving scarp 3.8m long and 1.1m high running obliquely to the line of the lynchets. A short length runs 5m SE from A before truncation by the extant stone field wall. Its original shape and area are not now possible to define.
A problem of interpretation is posed by the relationship of the huts to two lynchets, of the system SX 67 NE 111. One source [1985 pre-NMP Aerial Photograph Project] suggests they are built over the E lynchet, but this cannot be proven without excavation. One observation is clear: that the W lynchet has utilised and straightened an earlier feature which emerges as the prehistoric enclosure wall C. Assuming the huts are earlier than the lynchets, their survival in such an intensive agricultural regime is remarkable and possibly due to their being put to some practical use.
The 1938 excavation took place in the E half of hut A including the entrance. It revealed the orthostatic facing stones around the NE internal arc, together with paving around the entrance and a second doorway "jamb" which was re-erected [not now visible]. Internally, floor level was 18" below external ground level. There were no post holes but a possible hearth. Finds were few: 9 pot sherds and 5 flints, two of which were worked (Shorter, 1948-52).
Surveyed at 1:2500, with SX 67 NE 111.

GeoInformation Group Ltd, 2010, 1:625 2010 Colour (12.5cm resolution) (Aerial Photograph). SDV346026.

Visible.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV5881 - LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 701 BC?)
• FDV5880 - SHERD (Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 701 BC?)

Associated Events

• EDV8479 - Excavation of hut circle, Challacombe
• EDV8658 - Challacombe, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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