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Summary

Hut circle of 8.4 metres diameter with walls 1.0 metres wide by 1.1 metres high within the dispersed settlement to the west of Lowton Brook in Fernworthy Forest. Immediately behind the inner face is a stone cupboard 0.8 metres deep by 1.0 metres wide and 0.4 metres high at the front

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1017983: Dispersed stone hut circle settlement and associated fields 490m south east of Silk House

Other References/Statuses

• MPP Archaeological Item Dataset: 144110
• National Monuments Record: SX68SE66
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443867
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/35
• Old SAM County Ref: 957A
• Old SAM Ref: 28671
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX68SE66

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

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

One of the 'Hut Circles' shown on 19th century map.

Morley, 1975, Ancient Monuments Division Site Visit (Unknown). SDV351964.

Site visit 4th May 1975. D-shaped hut with orthostats erect around edge, although said to be restored.

Turner, J. R., 1976, Ancient Monuments on Forestry Commission Land. Fernworthy and Bellever (Report - non-specific). SDV351823.

Fernworthy Plantation. West Lowton 1B.
Site visit 1976. Hut circle, 9.1 metres diameter, on a platform site, cut into an east facing slope. Single ring of large stones, largest stone 2.0 by 0.4 metres, standing 1.2 metres above the ground. Entrance on south-east side. There is a modern enclosure wall on the southern side of the hut. Not investigated, February 1976. No posts ringing clearance zone. Clear of trees and other debris. Trees on the south side, outside the clearance area are within falling distance of the hut.
Included in 1955 Spooner and Dixon report (A) Region south of the Teign (Assacombe and Lowton), Site No. 1.

Turner, J., 1978, Report of Work Carried Out by the Forestry Commission since January 1976 (Report - non-specific). SDV351816.

No work has been carried out on the Lowton West group of sites since January 1976.

Robinson, R., 1983, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1983 (Un-published). SDV345762.

Department of Environment Field Monument Warden site visits 11th July and 16th December 1983.

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

Not visible on 1946 RAF photos due to tree cover.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., 144110 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Site visit 29th April 1997. Hut circle, 8.4 metres diameter. Single orthostat wall, 1.0 metres wide, 1.1 metres high. Interior 55.38 square metres. In the south-western part of the hut is a large stone with five rectangular hollows cut in its face, probably a gatepost. A later boundary abuts the hut. On the east side, immediately behind the innter face is a stone cupboard 0.8 metres deep, 1.0 metres wide and 0.4 metres high at the front. Possibly a cache.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 157, Map 35, Site 4 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Hut circle at 'Lowton Brook West' shown on the north side of a field boundary.

Smith, N., 1992, Condition Survey of Identified Archaeology with Woodland Areas 1992 (Un-published). SDV351819.

Fernworthy. West Lowton Group 1B. Site visit 27th September 1996. Hut circle on east facing slope above bend in road. Site covered with ferns. Unmarked. Other details: photo.

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

(03/06/1995) SX 66238343. A massively constructed hut circle lies on a slight shelf on the steep NE facing slope above the left bank of the Lowton Brook within Fernworthy Forest. The area occupied by the hut has not been overplanted but the hut has been disturbed probably during the construction of the adjacent field wall, described by Turner (1976). The levelled interior measures 8.8m in diameter with orthostatic walls 1.2m wide and up to 1.2m high. There is no obvious entrance though a gap in the SE wall may mark its former site.
A recumbent stone within the hut has had five rectangular slots cut in its upper surface and was intended for use as a slotted gate-post. However, it remains in its original position embedded in the ground.

Dartmoor National Park Authority, 1996, Condition Survey of Identified Archaeology within Woodland Areas 1996 (Un-published). SDV351820.

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

Hut circle shown on survey.

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

Hut circle visible.

Fugro-BKS, 2013, Fernworthy Forest LiDAR survey (Cartographic). SDV351778.

Hut circle visible, on the north side of an east-west boundary wall.

Newman, P., 2013, Fernworthy Forest Sites Survey (Un-published). SDV351708.

Ordnance Survey, 2013, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV350786.

Hut circle depicted.

English Heritage, 2013, National Heritage List for England, 1017983 (National Heritage List for England). SDV350785.

The monument, which falls into six areas, includes a dispersed stone hut circle settlement and associated fields situated on a north east facing slope overlooking the valley of the Lowton Brook. The settlement contains at least 12 stone hut circles together with a number of lengths of rubble walling forming part of a field system. The stone hut circles within the settlement all survive as banks each surrounding an internal circular area which varies from 14.51 to 55.39 square metres. The height of the surrounding walls vary between 0.6 metres and 1.3 metres. Four of the huts have visible doorways and the orthostatic, rubble bank and coursed walling building traditions are all represented.
Despite afforestation, the dispersed stone hut circle settlement and associated fields lying west of Lowton Brook survives well and contains archaeological structures, features and deposits, relating to the exploitation of this part of the moor during the Bronze Age period.

Newman, P., 2013, The Archaeology of Fernworthy Forest, Dartmoor, Devon, 25, 28, 63 Fig. 20, 23, 29 (Report - Survey). SDV351784.

Isolated hut circle, the most northern of the huts in the Lowton West group and also the most intact. It was a significant enough feature to be the only hut circle marked on an estate map of 1794-6 suggesting that it was in use at this time, possibly as a small stock pound or outbuilding. It comprises a single circle of large, edge-set granite slabs with an internal diameter of 8.9-9.1 metres. The highest of the stones stands 0.7-0.8 metres above floor level. Its level floor has been terraced into the slope with the stones at the back forming a revetment against the slope. A post medieval wall bank has been built against the hut on its southern side. It is likely that the entrance was in this section and is now obscured. There is a partially buried slotted gatepost on the floor of the hut. How or why it is here is difficult to explain.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6216 - Condition Surveys of Ancient Monuments on Forestry Commission Land
• EDV6203 - Archaeological Survey of Fernworthy Forest
• EDV7389 - Fernworthy Forest condition survey 1996
• EDV7410 - Fernworthy Forest condition survey 1992
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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