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Summary

Hut circle '2' at enclosed settlement 'A' at 'Bishop's Mead 1' (Butler)

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1002537: Hut circle and fields, Bishop's Mead
• SHINE: Earthwork and walling remains of a Bronze Age hut circle settlement and attached reave west of the Avon Dam Reservoir, comprising at least two adjoining enclosures with internal hut circles and two huts outside the central enclosures

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX66NE30
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66NE/8
• Old SAM County Ref: 467
• Pastscape: 441438
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

National Monuments Record, 09/04/1980, NMR SX6765 (Aerial Photograph). SDV146067.

Photograph taken on 9th April 1980.

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

Three adjoining enclosures shown on 19th century map with eleven 'Hut Circles'.

Royal Air Force, 1946 - 1949, Royal Air Force Aerial Photographs, 1890 4273 & 2494 4116-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDV342938.

Photograph taken on 10th December 1946.

Robinson, R., 1977-1979, South Brent Parish Checklist Worksheets, Pages 638-641 of 821, sketch plan (Worksheet). SDV340722.

See this source for full detail

Robinson, R., 1984, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1984 (Un-published). SDV343082.

Site visited on 19th March 1984.

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

Agglomerated enclosure with four main elements, containing eight hut circles visible on aerial photographs. The enclosure is attached to a reave.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 154-5, Map 57, Figure 57.22 (Monograph). SDV337765.

'Bishop's Mead 1'. Hut Circle '2' in Enclosure 'A' of 6.5 metres by 3.6 metres at the centre of the enclosures has been reduced to half size by rebuilding the cross wall as the outer one, giving it a D-shaped appearance.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 2015-2017, 2015-2017 Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV361462.

Enclosure visible on aerial photograph.

Ordnance Survey, 2020, MasterMap 2020 (Cartographic). SDV363413.

'Settlement' with hut circles shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2020, National Heritage List for England, 1002537 (National Heritage List for England). SDV363414.

Visited in 1961. Hut circles and field system, situated on south side of Avon Valley at 395 metres above a steep fall to the river at 335 metres. The settlement consists of 3 free standing huts 6 to 7.5 metres in diameter and 4 subsidiary ones 3 to 5.5 metres in diameter, with 3 lyncheted and walled fields measuring 45 metres by 50 metres, 30 metres by 20 metres and 35 metres by 45 metres.
Recorded on 5th November 2015. Hut Circle and fields at Bishop's Mead. The monument includes an agglomerated enclosed stone hut circle settlement situated at Bishop’s Meads on a steep north-east facing slope of the Avon Valley. The settlement survives as three roughly oval conjoined enclosures which contain up to 11 stone hut circles and a range of later rectangular pens. The enclosure walls vary in height from 0.3 metres to 1 metre and are up to 5 metres wide. The hut circles vary in internal diameter from 3 metres to 6.8 metres and are defined by outer walls measuring up to 4 metres wide and 1 metre high. Seven hut circles are directly attached to enclosure walls, two are free standing and two others are linked by a wall which also subdivides an enclosure. One hut appears to have been remodelled and is now D-shaped and the largest hut has an interior dividing wall. On the northern side three later small rectangular pens abut an internal enclosure wall. These are probably 13th or 14th century stock pens belonging to a nearby monastic settlement downstream, hence the name ‘Bishop’s Meads’.

National Monuments Record, 2020, Pastscape, 441438, SX66NE30 (Website). SDV363416.

Hut circle within enclosed settlement.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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