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Summary

Hut circle and several associated field boundaries in woodland. The hut is evident as a circular stony bank 1.5 metres wide and up to 0.4 metres high with an internal diameter of 4.5 metres. Two other associated hut circles are shown on modern mapping

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67NE25
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442471
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NE/23

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1952, SX67NE25 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV248423.

(17/07/1950) Hut circles. Hut circle at SX 65047610 no longer exists.

Dartmoor National Park Authority + Forestry Commission + Dartmoor Preservation Association, 1976, Conservation of Ancient Monuments. The Report of a Working Party, Site 31, 2d (Report - non-specific). SDV248248.

Hut-circle. Marked on Ordnance Survey 6 inch map. Included in 1955 Spooner/Dixon report: (Lakehead Bellever Laughter), site no.31.
Site no. 2d in Bellever Plantation, Laughter Tor (with sketch map) in dnp field report.
(1976) On a platform site, on a north west-facing slope, covered by whortleberries. Much robbed. Enclosure wall leaves the hut on the east, south and west sides. Possibly more hut-circles near by. Not investigated, has been planted over.
(April 1976) Seven posts ringing clearance zone, clear of trees and debris. Trees outside post ring are within falling distance of hut.

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

Not visible on RAF 1946 aerial photograph.

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

(21/10/1993) Centred SX 65067608. A single disturbed hut circle and several associated field boundaries lie in and around a small woodland clearing immediately south east of a Forestry Commission track. Though now in a clearing the area was formerly planted with closely spaced conifers which has resulted in much damage to these features (see SX67NE/34 + 250).
The hut is discernible as a circular stony bank, 1.5m wide and up to 0.4m high, with an internal diameter of 4.5m. The interior has been levelled by terracing on the north-east and cutting into the gentle slope on the south. Some internal facing slabs remain in situ. The south eastern side of the hut is partly obscured by stone dumping. There is no obvious entrance. The area around the hut is enclosed by Forestry Commission antiquity markers. At SX 65027609 a short length of field wall has been similarly protected.
The hut is adjoined by traces of three former walls measuring about 1.5m wide with a maximum height of 0.5m. The field pattern is roughly rectangular but much detail has been lost due to forestry activities in this area. It seems likely that the fields were once contiguous with those to the north east, south and south east (SX 67 NE 215 and 223).

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 46, Map 27, Site 14 (Monograph). SDV219155.

About 150 metres north-west of the settlement to the north of Laughter Tor a small number of trees have recently been felled beside a track exposing a few metres of walling and possible remains of hut circles.

Gerrard, S., 1993-2010, Monument Protection Programme Alternative Action Report (Report - non-specific). SDV145710.

A second hut circle has been noted by the County Sites and Monuments Record at SX65137602. The surrounding area is severely disrupted by forestry activities and fieldwork is difficult because of dense tree growth

Ordnance Survey, 2022, Mastermap 2022 (Cartographic). SDV364674.

Two 'Hut Circles' shown on modern mapping with a third 'Hut Circle (site of)' shown to the west.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7388 - Archaeological condition survey in Bellever Woods
• EDV7406 - Archaeological condition survey in Bellever Woods
• EDV7431 - Woodland Survey (1989-90) at Bellever, Soussons and other woodland parcels
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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