See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

A very impressive hut circle located on a south-west facing hillside. Levelled into the slope it measures overall 14.5m (north-south) by 12.0m with a level interior 7.9m (north-south) by 9.6m. The back scarp is 1.0m high and the substantial curvilinear front scarp is 1.3m high. It lies against or more probably over an 0.5m high boulder/stone lynchet which accounts for the strong front scarp. The wall comprises a ring of contiguous moorland slabs and boulders which have an average height of 0.4m. The entrance, situated on the east side and marked by one transverse slab is 1.5m wide.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Bronze age landscapes on Shaugh Moor and Wooter Moor comprising earthworks and walling of enclosures, hut circles, cairns, stone circles and rows, reaves and field systems, and medieval and post medieval field systems

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SE86
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439352
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/165

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/106G/UK/1190, RAF/106G/UK/1190 RP 3257-3258 27-FEB-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363067.

A hollow or platform is visible as an earthwork.

Price, D. G., 1973, Ancient fields on Shaugh Moor, 91 (Article in Serial). SDV147593.

(SX55156227) A large hut circle, south-west of Hawks Tor, and an associated field with stone boundaries. (For boundary reaves and associated fields see SX 56 SE 78).

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX56SE86 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV152537.

(30/09/1980) At SX 55186234 on the south-west slope of Shaugh Moor at 240m. OD is a sub-circular hut circle of Type 1 (SX 56 SE 19) in fair condition. The levelled interior, some 11m. in diameter, is cut 1.2m. deep on the north east and built up 1.6m. on the south-west side; a later pit has been dug into the floor. It has contiguous boulder walling, 0.6m. high and 0.7m. wide, which fades in the back slope. The entrance was probably on the south-east. (See plan and ground photograph).
Surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD.

Collis, J., 1983, Field Systems and Boundaries on Shaugh Moor and at Wotter, Dartmoor, 50, 59, Figures 2 & 4 (Article in Serial). SDV144058.

House 'B' of 9.95 metres diameter, slab and boulder wall up to 1.0 metres high, heavily robbed. On platform cut into hillside. Possibly part of earliest phase of Wotter Moor field system.

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

Not recorded.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 102-5, Map 48, Figure 48.4 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Hut circle of 9.5 metres diameter on the north side of a field boundary at Settlement 'E' to the south-west of Hawks Tor within Shaugh Moor field system.

Fletcher, M. + Probert, S., 1998, Shaugh Moor, Devon: An Archaeological Survey (Report - Survey). SDV343481.

(03/12/1997) SX55186234. A very impressive hut circle located on a south-west facing hillside at 230m above OD. Levelled into the slope it measures overall 14.5m (north-south) by 12.0m with a level interior 7.9m (north-south) by 9.6m. The back scarp is 1.0m high and the substantial curvilinear front scarp is 1.3m high. It lies against or more probably over an 0.5m high boulder/stone lynchet which accounts for the strong front scarp. The wall comprises a ring of contiguous moorland slabs and boulders which have an average height of 0.4m. The entrance, situated on the east side and marked by one transverse slab is 1.5m wide.
It lies within an extensive medieval field system which has most probably effaced much of the prehistoric field system which is clearly visible to the north-east however a few vague and sinuous lynchets linked to the east and the west of the hut, which are part of this prehistoric system, were identified and surveyed.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 1999-2017, Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery SX5562 31-MAY-2016 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363087.

A hollow or platform is visible as a stone faced earthwork.

English Heritage, 2005-2008, Prehistoric Survey Information (Cartographic). SDV345521.

Hut shown on survey.

Cartographic Engineering, 2006, Dartmoor 2006 1:1250 Aerial Photography (digital) (Aerial Photograph). SDV345590.

Visible on aerial photograph.

NERC, 2013, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) Tellus: South Devon to Dartmoor, LIDAR SX5562 Tellus DTM 01-JUL-2013 to 31-AUG-2013 (Cartographic). SDV361514.

A hollow or platform is visible as an earthwork.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, SM3 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

Visited 06/06/2019. SX5518 6234. Site description is good, hut circle clearly visible in landscape. Hut circle is very stable with no indication of deterioration. Photos X 2 taken
Note. Moor walkers Letter box sited under north end of boulder on the east side of hut circle.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording photographs, SM3 (Photograph). SDV363073.

Visited 06/06/2019 Photos X 2 taken. Both overall views of the hut one looking east and the other looking south

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2019-2020, The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping Survey. Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (AI&M, formerly NMP) (Interpretation). SDV362982.

A roughly circular or sub-square hollow or platform is visible under scrub vegetation on aerial photographs of 1946 as an earthwork up to circa 11m across, on the south-west-facing slopes of Shaugh Moor.
The earthwork is more clearly visible on visualisations derived from low resolution lidar data captured in 2013 and digital images derived from aerial photographs of 2016. On the latter, a linear alignment of stone settings is visible along the north-west edge of the hollow.
The earthworks and stone settings are interpreted as the damaged or robbed remains of a hut circle or hut platform of probable Bronze Age date.
The structure was probably associated with a small enclosure or pound immediately to the north-west (MDV48868) and might abut a field boundary, part of a surrounding field system, to the south.

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

'Hut Circle' shown on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4967 - Shaugh Moor Survey (1997-1998)
• EDV8098 - The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping (formerly NMP) Survey, Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (Ref: ACD2040)

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.