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Summary

An enclosed Bronze age settlement containing some 12 round houses.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1016029: Prehistoric settlement at North End, Lundy
• SHINE: Bronze Age settlement, North End, Lundy

Other References/Statuses

• National Trust SMR: 108016
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS14NW/2
• Old SAM County Ref: 735A
• Old SAM Ref: 30356
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SS14NW/SW20
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSED HUT CIRCLE SETTLEMENT (Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Gardner, K. S., 1956, Prehistoric Settlement - Gannet's Combe, Lundy., 56-7 (Article in Serial). SDV6861.

Other details: Plan and illustration.

Langham, A. + M., 1960, Lundy, Bristol Channel, 83 (Monograph). SDV6870.

Numerous flakes indicated a flint working site at north end of the settlement. Other details: Plan.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1962 - 1977, SS14NW/SW20 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV6863.

Site visit:18th May 1962. 12 hut circles in a very ruinous state. Two built into the enclosure wall with doorways facing south-east are the best preserved [see Monument Nos 45866 and 45875]. They are circular on the plan, and have a large rectangular outhouse abutting. Other details: photograph.

Anonymous, 1965 - 1966, Archaeological Gazetteer, 31 (Article in Serial). SDV6867.

Gardner, K. S., 1968, Lundy Archaeological Investigations 1967, 41-44 (Article in Serial). SDV6944.

Trial excavations at an eliptical hut produced Late Bronze Age pottery (see Monument No. 45870).

Ministry of Public Building and Works, 1970, Lundy, Prehistoric Settlement at North End (Schedule Document). SDV344689.

Area at north end of island enclosed by boundary wall composed of large boulders of granite set upright along south side. Within the area are at least eleven hut circles averaging 10-20 feet in diameter. The most northerly and southerly of them have been excavated and produced Bronze Age pottery. The south-east hut on the boundary is oval with an annexe on the west side. One of its sides is built of upright stones; the opposite side mainly smaller sotnes. The best preserved hut is the most eastern. 10 feet in diameter, 1 foot, 6 inches deep; a complex to the east of it including at least two other enclosures. One circle lies 250 yards to the south of the area and is 15 yards by 7 yards across. The ground is partly moorland, mostly granite outcrop.

National Trust, 1989, Lundy, Devon. Vol. One, 16-21 (Report - Survey). SDV1275.

Situated on the plateau between Gannet's Combe and the North End are the remains of a quite extensive early settlement site and field system, consisting of possibly twelve hut-circles and some enclosing walls. Numerous flakes and a flint arrowhead suggest there may have been a flint-working site at the north end of the settlement. The site came to light following vegetation fires in 1933 and 1935 and has been subject to piece-meal investigation since then. Other details: 101021-35.

Claris, P. D. + Thackray, D. W. R., 1990, Historic Landscape Survey of Lundy: 1st interim report, 27 (Article in Serial). SDV6856.

Most of the huts within the north end settlement have been partly excavated or rebuilt.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 1998, Prehistoric Settlement at North End, Lundy (Schedule Document). SDV6857.

The monument includes an extensive area of prehistoric remains at the north end of the island. The remains consist of hut circles, relict field walls, small enclosures or stock pounds and burial cairns. In addition, one of the largest cairns has a Civil War lookout hut set on top of it. At the south end of the settlement are the foundations of a 19th century summer house set among the field walls. The settlement remains extend from the north end of the Trinity House track for 480 metres to the south and are 350 metres from east to west at the widest point. There are 2 groups of remains. The northern group consists of a large hut circle, 15 metres in diameter and one large cairn, 20 metres in diameter, 80 metres to the south-east. Four smaller cairns are adjacent to this cairn on its south side. The southern group of remains has a cairn to the north of an area of hut circles and relict walls which extends over the width of the island. There are 5 hut circle complexes, each with an annexe or attached enclosure. Field walls link the settlements and in the southern half of the area is a series of terraces which were enclosed by low walls. Two of these hut circles have been part excavated in the past and Bronze Age pottery found at each site. The largest cairn in the northern section has a stone hut foundation set into the top which measures 8 metres by 4 metres. This is thought to have been set up as a lookout during the fortification of the island during the civil war. It is now known as John O'Groat's House. One of the southernmost terraces support the remains of the foundations of a summer house built by the Heaven family who owned the island during the 19th century. This terrace is 23 metres long and overlooks Gannets' Combe. Associated with the settlement is a detached hut circle 300 metres to the south-east which is the subject of a separate scheduling. The stone hut circle settlement at North End survives well as a series of foundations and linking orthostat walls, indicating the extent of Bronze Age settlement, and providing information about the living conditions and farming regime of its inihabitants.

National Trust, 1998, The National Trust Sites and Monuments Record. Compressed Site Reports. Lundy. SMR Sites Nos 108000-108150, 108016 (Report - non-specific). SDV344688.

North Combe settlement complex is a scheduled area which consists of a system of walls, hut circles, cairns and enclosures, mostly situated to the eastern side of Trinity House track, north of North and Gannets Combes, with the sites extending east to the cliff edge, beyond which lies Gannets Rock. West of the track, the scheduled area consists of a linear stone boundary, running north-west/south-east ending in a quite well-defined hut circle, just short of the track. A small stone cairn lies on the north side of the wall, north-west of the hut circle. A denser series of features lies east of the track, consisting of a hut circle complet close to the eastern cliff edge with, to the west, two further hut circles. Several cairns of various sizes and two linked and one separate enclosure, all with associated walls, lie on the plateau within the central area, north of North Combe. The area is criss-crossed with footpaths, some of which follow the route of the walls and other features. Soils here are thin, where denuded by fire in 1933 and 1935.

Quinnell, H., 2006, Prehistoric and Roman Pottery From Lundy, 15-17 (Article in Serial). SDV354480.

Overview given of the analysis of collections of prehistoric and Roman pottery found during excavations on Lundy in the 1960s and late 1980s. The earliest material is in the Biconical style dated to the Middle Bronze Age. The main Lundy group derives from North End Hut Circle 6 excavated in the 1960s and includes sherds from at least six vessels, three of which had lugs. Sherds were also found in the other North End hut circles.
A single sherd of Middle Iron Age South Western Decorated Ware was also found in one of the hut circles.

Ordnance Survey, 2010, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV344030.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV23 - ARROWHEAD (Prehistoric - 698000 BC to 42 AD)
• FDV24 - POT (Late Bronze Age - 1000 BC to 701 BC)

Associated Events: none recorded

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