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Summary

Hut circle settlement between the moorland boundary wall and the Devonport Leat within Stanlake Plantation with at least a dozen hut circles and remnants of enclosure walls

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1011250: Stone hut circle settlement 360m north-east of Leather Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57SE127
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 440393
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57SE/151
• Old SAM Ref: 22230

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX57SE127, SX57SE127 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV276919.

(28/06/1980) Centred at SX 56557026 on a moderately steep southeast slope, are the remains of fourteen hut circles within a conifer plantation and in very poor condition (personal comment T. Greeves, Dartmoor National Park Field Officer).
They are probably of Type 1 (SX 56 SE 19) and have rubble walling which averages 1.0m. wide and 0.3m. high, with levelled interiors from 2.5m. to 3.9m. in diameter. No entrances can now be recognised although they were presumably in the southeast sides.
There is evidence that the settlement was within a field system (see plan) but there are only two definite field walls, each of rubble and about 1.2m. wide and 0.4m. high. One wall links two huts.
The extent of the system is uncertain but traces of possible lynchets, visible as slight slope changes suggest that it covered at least 2.0 ha. though it is not traceable on the open moor to the west.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on M.S.D. and at 1:2500 for record purposes.

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

Not visible due to tree cover on aerial photographs.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 130667-9 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Site visited on 20th June 1980. A group of at least 13 previously unrecorded hut circles with associated boundaries and enclosures in densely afforested area. One large hut has already been recorded by Ordnance Survey. Condition mostly ruinous.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 41-42, Map 45, Figure 45.5 (Monograph). SDV137656.

About a dozen half buried hut circles remain visible with some short lengths of enclosure walling around them. Apart from the isolated building close to the Devonprt Leat all the surviving huts are between 3.0 metres and 4.5 metres diameter.

Fletcher, M. J., 2007-2008, Walkhampton Premier Archaeological Landscape; Field Investigation Project (Report - Survey). SDV359195.

(14/05/2008) A Bronze Age settlement of at least ten hut circles and the remnants of a field system lie on a south-east facing slope within a c.80 year old coniferous plantation. The huts are visible mostly as scoops in the hillslope and are usually enclosed by slight stony walls. Only a few have discernible entrance and the majority of the huts appear to be unenclosed. The fragmentary stone and boulder plot walls, up to 0.5m in height, are mostly contour-following; there are two lengths of stony lynchets up to 0.7m in height. The hillslope has been disturbed by surface stone removal and some visible scoops in the hillside may be the result of tree plate throw. This might be an example of a settlement that was constructed predominantly of timber which has not been overlain by stone structures. Surveyed at 1:2500 scale.

Ordnance Survey, 2021, MasterMap 2021 (Cartographic). SDV364015.

Hut circles shown at 'Settlement' on modern mapping

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1011250 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

This monument includes a stone hut circle settlement situated on an east- facing slope of Leather Tor. The settlement contains at least twelve stone hut circles and seven associated enclosures or garden plots. These enclosures are composed of rubble bank walls measuring 1.2 metres wide and 0.4 metres high, each defining an internal area. Many of these boundaries form lynchets where they lie along the contour of the hillslope. Seven of the stone hut circles are attached to boundary walls and one has an annexe. The stone hut circles are composed of stone and earth banks surrounding a circular internal area. The internal diameter of the huts varies between 2.5 metres and 6 metres. The height of the surrounding wall varies between 0.2 metres and 0.8 metres.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8351 - Walkhampton Premier Archaeological Landscape; Field Investigation Project

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