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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 surrounding prehistoric field system crossing Crownhill Down.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 439306
• National Monuments Record: SX56SE70
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/143/2

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.

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

Site visited on 27th June 1979. An oval level platform, probably the floor of a hut circle stands within the Prehistoric field system. Elliptical in shape, its east wall is dug into the hillside, still containing a few embedded stones. Two large standing stones to the south-west, built into the lower wall of the field system may have marked the entrance to an enclosure. Length 7 metres and width 6 metres.

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

Site visited on 2nd October 1980. hut circle not found, but there is a possible hut of uncertain type at SX 57356080. It has an internal diameter of approximately 3.5 metres with four blocks of stone on the perimeter. A narrow field, 6 metres wide and 21 metres long, extends westward of the hut, bounded by a line of single small stones.

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.

Not shown on 1985 interpretation.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 194-6, Map 52, Figure 52.16 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Several hut circles shown within Enclosure '1' between Ridding and Crownhill Downs.

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 hollow or terrace is visible enclosed by a circular bank.

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

One of Five hut circles within a Prehistoric field system. Hut D) elliptical hut platform measures 7 metres by 6 metres and is cut into the hill slope. It contains a few stones on its east while a small wall runs along its north side.
Hut D) was subsequently not found but a possible hut of uncertain type was identified to the north-west at SX57356080. It had an internal diameter of approximately 3.5 metres with four blocks of stone on the perimeter. A narrow field 6 metres wide and 21 metres long extends to the west of the hut bounded by a line of single small stones.
Scattered group of hut circles probably associated with a rectilinear field system. At SX57406075 a well defined hut is levelled into the hillslope. The oval shaped interior is 7.8 metres by 5.9 metres with an 0.5 metre high backscarp and a 0.4 metre high frontscarp. The turf covered stony bank is 0.4 metres high. There is no trace of an entrence gap but the hut was probably approached from the north or south along the slope.
An adjacent amorphous mound at SX57366079 which is 4.2 metres by 3.5 metres by 0.4 metres high may be a small claerance mound.
At SX57406074 is a hut stance levelled into the slope with a 0.7 metre high backscarp and a 0.3 metre high frontscarp. The level interior measures 6 metres by 4.6 metres with a slight stony bank along the lip of the frontscarp. There is no obvious entrance.

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 very slight earthwork on aerial photographs of 1946 and clearly identifiable on visualisations derived from lidar data captured between 1998 and 2017, enclosing a roughly circular hollow approximately 7m in diameter.
The circular earthwork is immediately east of a north-north-east to south-south-west linear earthwork bank, part of a wider prehistoric field system crossing Crownhill Down (MDV2558).
The circular earthwork is interpreted as a hut circle of probable Bronze Age to Iron Age date, probably associated with the surrounding field system.

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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