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 well-defined sub-rectangular enclosure situated on a north-facing hillside. The low enclosure wall of boulders and stones is spread to 2.0 meters wide; a 5.0 meters wide gap occurs on the downhill side. Four freestanding hut circles located on the north-facing hillslope have been identified. The enclosure is visible as a stony earthwork bank on digital images derived from aerial photographs of 2016.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1002517: Pounds and hut circles N of Saddlesborough

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SE89
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439361
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/167
• Old SAM County Ref: 428

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 2399 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

A pound is visible on the air photograph.

Cambridge University, 1967, CUC/AQX, CUC/AQX 49 (Aerial Photograph). SDV355237.

Price, D. G., 1973, Ancient fields on Shaugh Moor, 89 (Article in Serial). SDV147593.

(SX 55746347). A pound and three hut circles, all outside the pound, to the north of Saddlesborough.

National Monuments Record, 1976, NMR SX5563, 1 (Aerial Photograph). SDV138651.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX56SE89 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV152524.

(08/09/1980) The enclosure, centred at SX55786349, is generally as described by Smith (1980), the rubble walling at most 0.4 metres high. A gap of 5.5 metres in the north may have incorporated an original entrance.
Hut 'A' is of Type 2 with double walling 1.0 metres wide and 0.6 metres high. There is a wide gap on the south-east.
Hut 'B' is also of Type 2 but largely stripped of stone. It has an internal diameter of 6.5 metres, and the remains of walling, 2.3 metres wide and up to 0.5 metres high.
Hut 'C', of Type 2 has an internal diameter of 6.3 metres and walling 2.6 metres wide and 0.6 metres high.
Hut 'D' has an internal diameter of 4.3 metres and turf-covered walling 1.6 metres wide and 0.5 metres high. It is of indeterminate type. Other details: Plan.

Smith, K., 1980, Typescript notes and plan of Shaugh Moor (Un-published). SDV138646.

A roughly rectangular enclosure 33m from north to south and 22m from east to west with no apparent entrance or internal hut circles. The bank is low and weak, 80cms wide, and appear to be composed of small rubble with no facing stones or upright orthostats. The interior has been cleared of all clitter save for earth-fast boulders.
An eroded hut immediately west of enclosure. It is 5.00m internal diameter, the east wall survives intermittently. There is no visible entrance.
An eroded hut immediately south-west of enclosure which has an overall diameter of 12.00m. It appears to have been terraced into the north-facing slope and only the liners of the uphill side have survived.
A large and relatively well preserved hut on a natural terrace in the north-facing slope 34m south-west of enclosure. It is 6.50m in internal diameter, with a wall 3.00m thick and an entrance orientated south-east. The hut floor is sunken and the internal and external liners preserved in part.
A single hut sited immediately south-east of enclosure with an entrance orientated south. It is 9.00m in overall diameter but the structural details are not clear.

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

Ovoid enclosure visible and recorded containing two attached hut circles. There are traces of agglomeration.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 99-101 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Enclosure C; one of seven enclosures with associated hut circles in the area. No hut circles are located within this enclosure but there are four in close proximity of it. Butler states that the impressive hut circle to the south-west of the enclosure (6) was the most important building in the settlement. It measures 8.2 metres in diameter and has an inner and outer downhill wall and was either rebuilt using the original dividing wall for the new foundation or perhaps the outer wall was erected as a windbreak outside the entrance. Other details: Map 48, 3.

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

(03/12/1997) Centred at SX55776349. A well-defined sub-rectangular enclosure situated on a north-facing hillside between 265m and 268m above OD. The low enclosure wall of boulders and stones is spread to 2.0m wide; a 5.0m wide gap occurs on the downhill side. Four freestanding hut circles located on the north-facing hillslope have been identified.
SX55756350. The remains of a hut circle levelled into the slope is about 8.2m across with a wall traceable as irregularly spaced boulders and stones up to 0.3m high. Within this hut lies a second hut some 6.3m in diameter with a level interior 4.8m across (the northern part has been destroyed). The wall comprises some large boulders and slabs on average 0.5m high. the entrance is probably in the south-east quadrant.
SX55766348. A level platform cut into the north-facing hillslope is probably the site of a hut. The wall is represented by a rather sinuous and ill-defined boulder/stone line up to 0.5m high. The entrance is not obvious.
SX55746347. A well-preserved hut circle located on a level area on a north-west facing hillslope.
It measures 9.5m (north-south) by 10.5m with a level interior 5.2m (north-south) by 6.2m. The substantial wall comprises a boulder/stone core faced internally and externally with slabs and boulders up to 0.6m high. The position of the entrance is not clear although it is probably in the south-east quadrant.
SX55806349. A very fine hut circle levelled into the slope. it measures 8.1m in diameter with a level interior 4.6m (east-west) by 3.7m. The wall comprises a boulder/stone core with internal facing slabs/boulders and external facing boulders up to 0.6m high. The blocked entrance is probably on the north side.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 1999-2017, Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery SX5563 31-MAY-2016 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363087.

A stony bank was visible as an earthwork.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

NERC, 2013, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) Tellus: South Devon to Dartmoor, LIDAR SX5563 Tellus DTM 01-JUL-2013 to 31-AUG-2013 (Cartographic). SDV361514.

A bank was identifiable as an earthwork.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, SM30 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

Visited 08/09/2019. The 1997 Royal Commission site description is good with no change found. A clearly defined enclosure.Vegetation mixture of western gorse with patches of bracken, the boundary 80% covered in bracken. The internal area of the enclosure is lightly grazed between the gorse and the bracken. The site is stable. Photo taken.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording photographs, SM30 (Photograph). SDV363073.

Visited 08/09/2019. A photo taken looking south up the slope inside the enclosure

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.

A roughly oval or sub-rectangular enclosure of probable Bronze Age date is visible on digital images derived from aerial photographs of 2016 as a stony earthwork up to 2m wide, defining an enclosed area approximately 34m long, north to south, and 22m wide, east to west.
It was not possibly to confidently identify an entrance from the sources available to the survey, although a break in the circuit might be visible at the south-west corner of the enclosure.
Despite the poor resolution the enclosure is identifiable as an earthwork on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013.
No hut circles were visible within or integrated into the enclosure earthwork.

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.