More information : (SX 54287864) White Tor (NAT) Camp (NR) (1) A camp on the summit of White Tor formed by a double wall, now in ruinous condition. Both walls appear to have been 10 to 11 feet thick, the outer wall being 4 to 4 1/2 feet high, the inner 6 to 7 feet high. The distance between the walls varies between 10 and 40 feet. The entrances are to the east, where access is easier, they are not opposite and are protected by the spur walls. Within the camp are four hut circles and three possible hut shelters, and two northern circles (numbers 5 and 6 on plan) are joined by a short wall. Finds inside the camp have included a flint scraper and core, flakes and chips, some burnt, also pottery sherds of cooking vessel type. (2-3) No huts, but three Bronze Age Cairns (see SX 57 NW 5 and SX 57 NW 84). (4) The summit of White Tor (Whittor) is a flat area of 0.75ha. at 460m. O.D., covered with clitter and rock outcrops. The ground shelves gently to east and west; to the north and south it progressed by way of widely spaced natural terraces with steps up to 4.0m. high and 20.0m. wide. The 'fortification' encloses the summit with a double rampart of small stones, utilizing natural outcrops, boulders and two cairns on the perimeter. On the north and south sides the crest of the slope to the first terrace is followed by the inner rampart, but tumble within the restricted space has resulted in merging so that, superficially, a slope 10.0m wide and 3.0m high appears to be a continuous spread of rubble. There are no natural constrictions on the east and west sides but each is set out differently. On the east, facing the hinterland of the moor each wall is about 5.0m wide and 0.5m high at the centre. There is an interspace from 6.0m to 13.0m wide with two sub-divisions. AT SX 54347864 there is a gap 1.0m. wide through the outer rampart, with a single short out-turn on its southern side. This appears to be an original entrance. The inner rampart has two gaps between outcropping rocks, both of which seem original. On the west side of the fort the walling is more frugal, from 2.5m. to 6.0m. wide and from 0.3m to 0.5m high. The interspace is generally less than 2.0m., with an exceptional 7.0m. at the south west, covered with large boulders. There is a well defined simple entrance at SX 54227865, 1.5m wide. Not withstanding the amount of stone taken to construct cairns and ramparts, the interior is littered with embedded clitter. Evidence of occupation/habitation takes several forms. Localized clearence is suggested by some irregular patches of about 50.0 square metres, with relatively few stones, and there is one length of low, piled, walling (G). There are five circular depressions within the enclosed area (A - E), and one outside at SX 54207861 (F). All are 0.2m. deep with diameters from 3.0m. to 5.0m., often edged with small stones which protrude from the turf. Their type is indeterminate, with no clear entrances. Two enigmatic features (II and III), which could have been either huts or cairns, (see SX 57 NW 84). There are three type 1 huts on the north side. Two (V and VI) at SX 54257867 and SX 54257868 were excavated in 1898 (2). The former revealed a 'cooking hole' and charcoal. It is set between the ramparts, a depression 0.4m. deep with an internal diameter of 2.0m. surrounded by small stones. The other, which produced nothing when excavated, it set out from the lower rampart but joined to it by spread walling. This appears to have been robbed from the original rampart course resulting in a gap immediately to the east leading to an inter-mural area some 5.0m. square. The hut consists of a wall of pile stones 1.6m. thick and 0.5m. high with no clear entrance; the internal diameter is now 2.0m. The White Tor site is unique to Devon, but of the many clitter covered tors this is probably the only one with a flat top and adaptable to defensive purposes. Though at first sight impressive the 1898 suggestion that the walls were over three metres thick and 2.0m. high cannot be sustained by the visual evidence. For most of the vulnerable east and west sides the volume of stone would barely create field walls of modern type and size, say 1.7m. high and 0.6m. thick. On the north and south sides where the slopes are already scree covered it is difficult to judge the amount of additional material. At SX 54347866 there is a single face of three course walling 4.0m. long. This may be modern (there are four shelters in the vicinity) but if not it is the only evidence of coursing. Taken as a whole the erratic plan, with bivallation occasionally merging to form a single scarp; the weak defence on east and west and particularly around the entrances, is unlike to normal Iron Age hillfort. Though neither as large in area nor as erratic in plan, White Tor bears comparison with the defended settlement at Rough Tor on Bodmin Moor. Both enclose and utilize cairns which are nevertheless respected; both have demarcated rather than defended entrances; both have shallow hut scoops and a few larger (and later?) well constructed huts with nearby but probably not contemporary settlements and reave systems. In sum, White Tor may be placed in the second rather than the first millenium B.C. Surveyed at 1:10 000 on P.F.D. with 1/1000 scale survey on Illustration Card. (5) (SX 54257865) Fort (NR). (6) SX 532787. White Tor Camp, Cudlipptown Down, scheduled. (see also SX 57 NW 84). (7) (The grid reference quoted by Authority 7 is inaccurate. By examination of Authority 8, and OS 1:10000 1982, the grid reference for the camp can be located at SX 54257865). (8) Additional bibliography. (9)
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