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HER Number:MDV125965
Name:Hut in enclosure on Yartor Down

Summary

One of two hut circles within a series of conjoined prehistoric enclosures on the west side of Yar Tor. SX67477407 is a hut circle with robust granite walls with elements of both internal and external walls surviving and cuts into a moderate slope. The internal diameter (ie across the internal wall) is 6 metres and the bank is 1.8 metre wide and an external height of 1.2 metres and an internal height of 0.8 metres. There is a level interior with minimum tumble and no definable entrance. The hut is transacted by a post prehistoric field boundary and appears to have been refurbished.

Location

Grid Reference:SX 674 740
Map Sheet:SX67SE
Admin AreaDartmoor National Park
Civil ParishWidecombe in the Moor
DistrictTeignbridge
Ecclesiastical ParishWIDECOMBE IN THE MOOR

Protected Status

  • SHINE: Dartmeet Parallel Reave System. Earthworks of an extensive area of prehistoric remains including complex field system, numerous hut circles, enclosures and cairns, overlain by medieval remains including Vaghill Warren, farmsteads and a large field syste

Other References/Statuses

  • National Monuments Record: SX67SE/97
  • National Record of the Historic Environment: 443055
  • Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX67SE68

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

National Monuments Record, 1980, SF1748, 397-410 (Aerial Photograph). SDV279663.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX67SE68 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV363085.

(Visited 03/06/1980) Centred at SX 675741 at 333 metres OD on the west slope of Yar Tor, are two hut circles of Type 2. Both have levelled interiors measuring 7.8 metres in diameter and walling 1.6 metres wide and 0.7 metres high. There are no visible entrances.
The huts are within the extensive parallel reave system (SX 67 SE 94) but appear to have their own system of a few curvilinear fields extending over about 1.0 hectare. These, visible on the ground and on aerial photographs, have boundaries of rubble banks and lynchets just visible through the turf and averaging 1.1 metres wide and 0.3 metres high. In places they have been utilized as a base for Medieval or later walling which reaches a height of 0.9 metres and measures 1.5 metres wide with an outer ditch. In one instance the walling has been extended across a hut. Huts surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD.

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

Hut circles and enclosures visible in aerial photograph. Two huts, one crossed by a later wall. An almost D-shaped enclosure with banks extending from it in the south to form a second possible element to this enclosure. A hut circle lies within this element at SX67477408 next to a small area of ridge and furrow, a second hut circle is apparently crossed by the wall of the second element at SX67477406. The second element could have been partially destroyed by a footpath.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume One - The East, 125-6 (Monograph). SDV299725.

Prehistoric settlement overbuilt at a later date, though it appears that the rebuilding was never completed. The neatly coursed stones distinguish the later work. Part of this was carried straight across the centre of a substantial hut of 7 metres diameter. The foundations of a second hut with a diameter of circa 7. 5 metres has about a third of the circumference buried. Uphill a bank connects these with an unaltered pound on a natural shelf in the hillside. A hut of very small dimensions probably existed within, though only a few scattered stones remain. Other details: Map 14, Site 6.

Newman, P., 2008, Dartmeet Premier Archaeological Landscape (PAL) Field Investigation Project (Report - Survey). SDV347061.

(Visited 14/03/2008) On the moderately sloping west side of Yar Tor is a series of conjoined prehistoric enclosures with two hut circles.
SX67477407 is a hut circle with robust granite walls with elements of both internal and external walls surviving and cuts into a moderate slope. The internal diameter (ie across the internal wall) is 6 metres and the bank is 1.8 metre wide and an external height of 1.2 metres and an internal height of 0.8 metres. There is a level interior with minimum tumble and no definable entrance. The hut is transacted by a post prehistoric field boundary and appears to have been refurbished.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV279663Aerial Photograph: National Monuments Record. 1980. SF1748. National Monuments Record Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). 397-410.
SDV299725Monograph: Butler, J.. 1991. Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume One - The East. Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume One - The East. One. Paperback Volume. 125-6.
SDV319854Cartographic: Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. 1985. Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP. Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England Aerial Photograph P. Cartographic.
SDV347061Report - Survey: Newman, P.. 2008. Dartmeet Premier Archaeological Landscape (PAL) Field Investigation Project. English Heritage Archaeological Investigation Report. Unknown. [Mapped feature: #118498 ]
SDV363085Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card: Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division. 1980. SX67SE68. Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card. Card Index.

Associated Monuments

MDV6489Part of: Conjoined enclosure on Yartor Down (Monument)
MDV125964Related to: Hut in enclosure on Yartor Down (Monument)

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

  • EDV8296 - Dartmeet Premier Archaeological Landscape (PAL) Field Investigation Project

Date Last Edited:Mar 4 2022 2:50PM