More information : (Centred SX 68206480) Enclosed Hut Groups and Hut Circles (NR) (1) A Bronze Age pastoral settlement on Gripper's Hill, Dean Prior, was excavated in July 1954 by Lady Aileen Fox on behalf of the Ministry of Works. The site comprises four enclosures containing ten or more huts as well as three or four outlying huts, many ill-defined, overgrown, and all in poor condition; most of the enclosure walls are so ruined that they appear only as an untidy spread of loose stones but the wall of Enclosure II appears to have been substantially built with a width of 6-7 1/2 ft on the east side. Enclosures 2 and 3 were the primary constructions and were most probably used for sheltering cattle whilst the huts in enclosure 4 together with the outlying huts were used for human habitation. (2-3) On the south slopes of Gripper's Hill at 310-325m OD is a settlement which consists of three contiguous enclosures containing eight huts, with a further four huts to the south west. Enclosure I on the plan with hut circles Nos 1 and 2 have been entirely destroyed by quarrying. The walls of the primary Enclosures II and III appear thicker than those of Enclosure IV - up to 2.0m average; No II has several yards adjacent to the interior wall and only two huts; No III has only one hut and no yards; No IV has four internal huts, another contiguous with the inner face of the enclosure and one contiguous with the outer face; there are no yards. There is no evidence of clearance in Enclosures III and IV, but some may have been attempted in No II. All the huts are in a very ruinous state and are probably Type 1. (Type site SX 56 SE 19) The internal diameters range from 3.0m to 6.0m, with an average of 4.0m; the walls are on average 1.0m thick. Only hut No 3 has a visible entrance, on the east. Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD. (4)
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