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Summary

A hut circle of probable Bronze Age to Iron Age date is recorded from field investigation and aerial survey as an earthwork on the north-west facing slopes of Crownhill Down. The hut circle is one of seven, probably associated with a prehistoric field system crossing Crownhill Down immediately to the east.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 439306
• National Monuments Record: SX56SE70
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/141
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX56SE70

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HUT CIRCLE (Early Bronze Age to Late Iron Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 42 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/106G/UK/1190, RAF/106G/UK/1190 RS 4252-4253 27-FEB-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363067.

A circular bank is visible as a subtle earthwork.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1970 - 1978, SX56SE70, SX56SE70 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV343431.

At SX57386077. Hut circle with earthen bank 8 metres in diameter and 0.2 metres high.

Edwards, C., 1979, An archaeological survey of an area surrounding Hemerdon Ball (Report - Survey). SDV337241.

Visited on 27th June 1979. Earth banked hut circle stands between Bottle Hill Leat to the west and the lower wall of the Prehistoric field system to the east. A small sinuous section of earth and stone wall to the southwest is probably associated with it. Diameter 8 metres, height 0.2 metres and width 1 metre.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, Crownhill Down (Personal Comment). SDV343436.

Site visited on 2nd October 1980. At SX57376077. A circular platform 6.9 metres in diameter, levelled into a western slope, and of uncertain type. There is a bank 1.6 metres wide and 0.2 metres high on the perimeter in the western half.

Gilbertson, D. + Collis, J., 1982, Mapping Three Millennia of Settlement and Land Use on Crownhill Down, South West Dartmoor (Article in Serial). SDV362901.

Hut circle in Field System 2.

Gilbertson, D. + Collis, J., 1985, Linear Banks on Crownhill Down, Dartmoor (Article in Serial). SDV337244.

Hut circle in Field System 2.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, SX56SE (Cartographic). SDV336987.

Recorded from aerial photographs.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 194-196, 213, Map 52, Figure 52.16 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Crownhill Tor Fields cairn at SX37366079 of 3.0 metres by 0.3 metres recorded at this location. However Figure 52.16 appears to show one hut circle to the north-west and two hut circles to the south-east of this feature within Enclosure 1'.

Environment Agency, 1998-2017, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) EA: South Devon Coast to Dartmoor, LIDAR SX5760 Environment Agency DTM 01-JAN-1998 to 31-MAY-2017 (Cartographic). SDV361470.

A circular earthwork bank is identifiable on visualisations derived from lidar data captured between 1998 and 2017.

National Monuments Record, 2002, 439306 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV343432.

There are five hut cirlcles and one hut platform within a Prehistoric field system. Hut C) a hut circle with an earthen bank 8 metres in diameter and 0.2 metres high.
Hut C) A circular platform 6.9 metres in diameter levelled into a west slope and of uncertain type. There is a bank 1.6 metres wide and 0.2 metres high in the western half.

Fletcher, M., 2002, The Archaeological Landscape of Crownhill Down and Ridding Down: Survey Report, 4 (Report - Survey). SDV343412.

Other details: Figure 3 and Crownhill Down Survey.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2019-2021, The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping Survey. Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (AI&M, formerly NMP) (Interpretation). SDV362982.

An earthwork bank up to circa 2.5m wide is visible as a slight earthwork on aerial photographs of 1946 and identifiable on visualisations derived from lidar data captured between 1998 and 2017, enclosing a circular hollow approximately 7 to 8m across.
The visible earthwork is interpreted as a hut circle of probable Bronze Age to Iron Age date.
It is probably associated with a prehistoric field system crossing Crownhill Down immediately to the east (MDV2558)

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4559 - Archaeological Landscape of Crownhill Down and Riddding Down
• EDV8098 - The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping (formerly NMP) Survey, Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (Ref: ACD2040)

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