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Summary

Remains of a hillfort 200 metres south of Nattadon Farm. This site is on the local list of Nationally Important Dartmoor sites.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Nattadon Hillford, Chagford. Iron Age hillfort probably overlying the remains of a field system

Other References/Statuses

• Dartmoor Non-designated Heritage Asset (Historical): NI Site
• National Monuments Record: SX78NW41
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 445576
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX78NW/31

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HILLFORT (Iron Age - 700 BC to 42 AD)

Full description

National Monuments Record, SX7086 (Aerial Photograph). SDV257969.

Nattadon Hillfort, visible as a series of concentric rings on National Monuments Record aerial photograph.

Greeves, T. A. P. + Griffith, F. M., 1981, Untitled Source (Site Visit). SDV345604.

In a rather brief visit, evidence of at least three banks, possibly four, was found. The banks are clearer in some places than others. The site has been ploughed.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1982, SX78NW44, N. V. Quinnell, plans (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV257967.

(30/03/1982) The surviving earthworks of this hillfort were surveyed at 1:1000. Constructed in a naturally defensive situation, the earthworks appear to be the setting out stage of a bivallate hilltop fortification, similar to Hunters Tor. It appears to be constructed upon a pre-existing field system which is harder to see on the ground than on the aerial photograph. The present extent of the field system is around 12 hectares. The north-east side of outer defensive enclosure is hard to trace and may have been destroyed by tinners pits. There is no trace of an entrance visible. Other details: Survey drawing in Sites and Monuments Record.

Silvester, R. J. + Quinnell, N. V., 1993, Unfinished Hillforts on the Devon Moors, 23-25 (Article in Serial). SDV62321.

The earthwork evidence for this site is tenuous but hints at two unfinished (and potentially concentric) enclosure banks, perhaps overlying a fragment of an earlier field system. The outer circuit around the west side of the hill has a scarp bank with a terrace below it, the former little more than 1.0 metre high, the latter about 3.0 meters wide. Its south terminal fades out, its north one is interrupted by a line of fossicking pits. There are faint traces on the east of a scarp curving round, but whether this is an extension of the same circuit or part of a system of low lynchets seen elsewhere on the hillside is debatable.
The inner circuit shows as a low bank around the east side of summit. It is interrupted in places and elsewhere is barely visible, being clearer on the aerial photograph than on the ground. A very low field bank running up from the south appears to be interrupted by the outer scarp bank.
The earthworks may represent a hill-top site abandoned at a very early stage of construction, but it may also be that the circuits are no more than eroded enclosure banks that follow the contour and are associated with early farming activity.

Gerrard, S., 2004, List of Sites Remaining to be Considered for Designation on Dartmoor (Un-published). SDV345444.

This site was considered for designation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument during the Monument Protection Programme. The programme ended before the entire list of sites was successfully scheduled so this is included on a local list of Nationally Important Sites.

Ordnance Survey, 2010, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV344030.

Ralston, I. + Lock, G., 2017, Atlas of Hillforts (Website). SDV360888.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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