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Summary

Outer Huccaby Ring earthwork; a sub-rectangular banked enclosure. The bank is grassed over rubble. There is a probable entrance on the south-west side. A hillslope enclosure in rough moorland measuring 105 metres east-west and 95 metres north-south with a bank of small stones averaging 0.6 metres high. It is of prehistoric date with later additions.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021050: Prehistoric enclosed settlement known as Outer Huccaby Ring and associated irregular aggregate field system
• SHINE: Remains of prehistoric field systems and hut circle settlements, as well as funerary monuments above the Cherry Brook Valley, medieval field systems around Huccaby Rings and deserted Coxlake farmstead as well as the Brimpts Tin Mine leat

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67SE20
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442913
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67SE/20
• Old SAM County Ref: 800
• Old SAM Ref: 34462

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSURE (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC? (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

'Outer Huccaby Ring' shown on early 20th century map with a significant boundary.

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/2149, 4424-4425 (Aerial Photograph). SDV282746.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1951/1980, SX67SE20 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV265435.

(24/08/1951) A prominent feature with banks varying in height and width except for a break in the south-eastern 17m wide. Height 0.1m - 0.4m, width 0.5m - 2.0m.
(06/03/1980) On a south west slope at 355m OD is a prominent sub-rectangular enclosure known as "Outer Huccaby Ring" It measures 105m east-west and 95m north-south within a bank of small stone averaging 3.0m wide and 0.6m high. Thee is a simple entrance to the south and possibly another at the south east where a large slab is set across the end of the bank and there is a 3.0m gap.
An outer bank and ditch follows part of the south side west of the entrance, its purpose is obscure as is that of the 0.2m scarp in the north of the otherwise featureless interior. (See plan). The earthwork is joined on its north and east by Medieval or later field banks with accompanying ditches, and is cut by a leat and footpath. The work is in fair condition.
Surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD and at 1:1250 for AO Records.

Grinsell, L. V., 1970, Discovering Regional Archaeology: South Western England, 26 (Monograph). SDV304192.

Outer Huccaby Ring is a hill slope enclosure which may be Iron Age.

Ancient Monuments, 1970, Schedule notes (Schedule Document). SDV265426.

(06/05/1970) Outer Huccaby Ring earthwork. A sub-rectangular banked enclosure. The bank is grassed over rubble. There is a probable entrance on the south-western side. The enclosure is cut by a recent north-south drainage gully. "This is a hill slope enclosure on a south-western slope overlooking the West Dart" (Grinsell, 11970).

Ordnance Survey, 1975, OS/75/298, 091 (Aerial Photograph). SDV346964.

National Monument Record, 1977, SX6575, 1/365-385 (Aerial Photograph). SDV247974.

Ordnance Survey, 1980, Survey drawing of features north-west of Outer Huccaby Ring (Plan - measured). SDV218393.

Hemery, E., 1983, High Dartmoor, 448 (Monograph). SDV249702.

Additional bibliography.

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

Substantial rectangular enclosure visible on 1947 RAF and 1977 NMR aerial photographs.

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

(11/11/1988) A hillslope enclosure situated at SX65547442 in rough moorland within Brimpts Outer Newtake.
Survey and field report by the Ordnance Survey (1980) are basically correct, with the following additions.
Medieval/Post Medieval cornditch-type boundaries (SX 67 SE 97) join the Ring in four places (A, B, C and D) in such a way as to suggest that their layout as fields is influenced by the orientation of the Ring. Further, the SW external and NE internal scarps of the enclosure are longer and more prominent than those on the remainder of the circuit (SW internal scarp has visually gone) strongly suggestive of lynchet formation and ploughing inside the Ring. Rig and furrow visible on AP's (9b) and just discernible on the ground NW,W and S of the Ring lends support to use of the Ring as part of this general field group of late date (see SX 67 SE 97).
An "entrance" at the SE corner cannot be called original; as inner scarp survives suggesting it is a breach to gain access to the interior probably is a later, agricultural use of the Ring.
The leat which cuts the NW and SE sides of the Ring is the Brimpts Mine Leat (SX 67 SE 134), a 19th century feature connected with tin mining.
Outer Huccaby Ring belongs to a class of hillslope enclosures generally regarded as prehistoric. There is no evidence to suggest that it is specifically Iron Age (contra Grinsell, 1970).

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 157135 (10/5/2002) (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(10/05/2002) Outer Huccaby Ring. Earthwork with occasional edge set stone. Bank covered in dense gorse. Within enclosure mainly gorse, grass and some heather.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 56, 227, Map 28, Figure 28.2 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Outer Huccaby Ring at SX655744 covering 0.7 hectares with one hut circle. Three medieval banks with ditches butt onto this prehistoric enclosure incorporating its eastern boundary. The original wall was 1.8 metres wide between the outer faces but it has spread to 2.5 metres in places and stands to almost a metre above the ground on the west side. The only building is a small hut of circa 4.0 metres diameter against the north wall.

Hazell, E., 2002, Decoding Huccaby Ring and Outer Huccaby Ring (Report - non-specific). SDV265441.

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

Enclosure shown on survey.

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

Visible on aerial photograph.

Historic England, 2022, National Heritage List for England, 1021050 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364675.

The monument includes an enclosed prehistoric settlement known as Outer Huccaby Ring and associated irregular aggregate field system situated on a west facing slope overlooking the valley of the West Dart River. The monument lies in two separate areas of protection. Outer Huccaby Ring survives as an oval enclosure denoted by a 3 metres wide bank standing up to 0.8 metres high. Adjoining the inner face of the northern bank is a stone hut circle and cutting through the enclosure are two leats associated with nearby Brimpts Mine. The irregular aggregate field system is situated to the east of Outer Huccaby Ring and survives as a group of at least three irregular shaped fields denoted by earthworks measuring up to 2 metres wide and 0.4 metres high.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8634 - Brimpts Farm, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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