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Summary

Enclosure 'B' (Butler) within Bronze Age hut circle settlement with two or three internal hut circles

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Bronze Age settlement consisting of three linked enclosures with twelve hut circles south of the Avon Dam Reservoir, parts of the site have been destroyed by quarrying

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX66SE1
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66SE/48
• Pastscape: 441740
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950 - 1977, SX66SE1, SX66SE1 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV178128.

Hut circles and enclosures on Gripper's Hill, Avon Valley. Four enclosures and eleven hut circles.
Enclosure 2; consists of a wall of large stones and measures 40.0 meters by 43.0 meters, there was no obvious entrance. Contains hut circles C, D, E and two others.
Hut C; (diameter 5.5 meters) walls of large stones with entrance to east, poor condition. Within enclosure 2.
Hut D; (diameter 3.0 meters) remains only, probable entrance to east. Within enclosure 2.
Hut E; (length 7.0 meters, width 5.5 meters) semi-circular abutting onto enclosure wall, in poor condition. Within enclosure 2.

Fox, A., 1955, Huts and Enclosures on Gripper's Hill, in the Avon Valley, Dartmoor, 55-62 (Article in Serial). SDV178125.

Full report on the excavation undertaken here during the construction of the Avon dam. There are the remains of four enclosures, containing ten or more huts, three or four outlying huts in poor condition. Most of the enclosure walls are so ruined they appear only as an untidy spread of loose stones.
Enclosure 2; known as Gripper's Pound. The walls, though ruined, have been substantially built, almost rectangular. The interior is comparatively level and the centre fairly clear of stones. The remains of habitations are built up against the pound walls. Hut 3 on the west wall is substantially built with a small annexe on its northern side. Remains of three or four pens and possibly a round hut on the opposite side of the pound.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 145-7, Map 57, Figure 57.15 (Monograph). SDV337765.

'Gripper's Hill' settlement was planned in 1954 before construction of the Avon Dam. It consists of six enclosures and numerous hut circles.
Enclosure 'B' was solidly built with walls 2.5 metres wide and the inner face of the east side retaining both vertical and horizontal slabs. The central area has been cleared and huts and pens constructed around the edge. The thin walled ring at '4' of 6.0 metres was probably a pen but '3' and '17' appear to be normal huts.

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

Enclosure shown on modern mapping with two hut circles.

National Monuments Record, 2020, Pastscape, 441740, SX66SE1 (Website). SDV363416.

Field Investigation on 30 th June 1977. On the south slopes of Gripper's Hill at 310-325 metres OD is a settlement which consists of three contiguous enclosures containing eight huts, with a further four huts to the south-west.
The walls of the primary Enclosures II and III appear thicker than those of Enclosure IV - up to 2.0 metres average; No II has several yards adjacent to the interior wall and only two huts.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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