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Summary

Seven hut circles and fragments of at least three contemporary enclosures lie either side of Hentor Brook some 450 metres south of Hentor House. The enclosures vary between 0.17 hectares and 0.32 hectares in area. Several short lengths of walling are visible in the immediate area suggesting that the field system was once more extensive though much is now obscured by peat and long grass. The hut circles are in varying states of preservation and none possess obvious entrances. All are terraced into the hillside to provide level interiors.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1015752: A partially enclosed stone hut circle settlement 330m south west of Hen Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56NE82
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 438735
• Old SAM Ref Revised: 28792

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2494, 3129-30 (Aerial Photograph). SDV147533.

Enclosure faintly visible.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1979, SX56NE82 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV150887.

(29/01/1979) Below Hen Tor on Hentor Brook at 365.0m OD is the remains of an enclosed settlement. The incomplete sub-circular enclosure is 50.0m in diameter with tumbled rubble walling which averages 1.8m wide and 0.7m high. A gap and single orthostat suggest an entrance in the east corner.
There is no walling on the south west side along the steep slope above the river. Four Type 1 huts are within the enclosure and have internal diameters ranging from 2.5m to 4.5m with walling averaging 0.7m high and 0.8m wide. The entrances face towards the adjoining huts and the interiors are levelled. The overall condition of the hut is poor. The surrounding area is boggy and consequently there is little evidence of fields. A wall of single stone construction is visible on the opposite bank of the Brook, and a similar wall leads from the enclosure to an area of boulders to the east. This latter walling may have been part of an enclosure for the huts (see SX 56 NE 81) to the north-west of the site.
(Type site SX 56 SE 19).
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD.

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

Not visible on the 1946 Royal Air Force vertical aerial photographs.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 122-3, Map 49, Figure 49.8 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Hut circle settlement 'A' to the south of Hen Tor Brook with three hut circles and traces of an enclosure.

Robertson, J. G., 1994, The Archaeology of the Upper Plym Valley (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV139549.

Depicted and described by Robertson.

Probert, S. A. J. + Fletcher, M. J., 2002, Plym Valley survey (Report - Survey). SDV350782.

(22/03/2002) Centred SX 5903 6510. Seven hut circles and fragments of at least three contemporary enclosures lie either side of Hentor Brook some 450 metres south of Hentor House. The enclosures, bounded by stony banks up to 2.0 metres wide and 0.8 metres high vary between 0.17 hectares and 0.32 hectares in area. Several short lengths of walling are visible in the immediate area suggesting that the field system was once more extensive though much is now obscured by peat and long grass. The hut circles are in varying states of preservation and none possess obvious entrances. All are terraced into the hillside to provide level interiors.

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

Sections of an enclosure around three hut circles shown on survey. Three sides of enclosure shown on survey with a section of walling running north from the north-west corner.

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

Three hut circles an a curving section of boundary shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1015752 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

This monument, which falls into three separate areas of protection, includes a partially enclosed stone hut circle settlement situated on both sides of the Hentor Brook on a gentle north west facing slope of Hen Tor. On the southern side of the Hentor Brook are a cluster of three stone hut circles, two of which are joined to each other. Three distinct lengths of rubble bank lead away from this group of huts and these may represent the remnants of another enclosure which survives largely beneath peat deposits.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8148 - The Upper Plym Valley: The Management of an Historic Landscape
• EDV8155 - Plym Valley Survey

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